The Wild Pack
by IceyLink
Summary: A team of mutants find themselves drawn together in a mysterious new city filled with secrets. Series Completed.
1. Team Roster

**The Wild Pack**

**Disclaimer:**

These issues are a work of fiction based partly on characters owned by Marvel Entertainment Ltd. These stories are not to be used for commercial gain, and are purely for entertainment purposes only.

In the heart of a new and mysterious city, a team of retired mutants find themselves looking for a fresh start on life. Little do they know there is more to this city than meets the eye. An unknown threat has taken its hold on this city. With the citizens unaware and unable to stop it a new team of mutants step forth to protect their new home. The Predator, The Black Cat, The Black Crow and The Dragoness, complete strangers, thrown together by chance & forced to don their costumes once again to prey on the evil. They are mutants, they are animals, they are powerful, they are "_THE WILD PACK_"

**Team Roster**

Cyber-Worm aka Madison Jeffries - Powers: Psionic powers control metal, plastic & glass causing them to move or technoform. To better serve the team and satisfy his wife he dropped the Predator disguise and now runs the team electronically from his home.

Black Cat aka Felicia Hardy - Powers: Cause bad luck.

Black Crow aka Jesse Crow - Powers: Create fog, heal, become a crow & lightening bolt and other powers yet to be seen.

Dragoness aka Tamara Kurtz - Powers: Generate and control bio-electricity.

Predator II aka Jayson Landon – Powers: Becomes a ghost and possesses machinery making it do what he wants.

Sasquatch aka Walter Langkowski – Powers: Transforms into a giant powerful orange beast.

Asp aka Cleo Nefertiti – Powers: Generates paralyzing and lethal bolts of energy.

Supporting cast

Mindy Jeffries - Madison Jeffries' wife.

John Giles - Jesse Crow's servant/friend. Possesses some magical talents.


	2. The Beginning Part One

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #1 – The Beginning – Part One**

The rain fell hard into the night. It was almost hard to see. The glare of water from the pavement and the oncoming headlights made it worse, only thing worse than a severe storm is moving in a severe storm. Boy did Madison hate both. He wasn't too happy about the move but he had no choice. A few weeks ago he found out his wife was pregnant. Here he thought she was just gaining some weight, but instead she was with child. She was about three months along now. She was due in October. The baby wasn't the only change. His wife, Mindy, demanded that he give up his alter-ego.

They argued for several days about it. He had been Box for many years with Alpha Flight until they disbanded and he got brainwashed into Weapon X. It took him a long time to gain his rep as a "good guy" opposed to his old "bad guy" days. As much as he wanted to remain a hero, he had to think of his future child. It would be hard, living in Canada to give it all up. He joked and told Mindy that the only way he could do it was to move away to the United States. That made his wife smile.

After finally escaping the director and gaining his mind and free will back, he returned to find everything he had known to be gone. Alpha Flight was no more and his ex-wife Diamond Lily was gone with finalized divorce papers waiting for him. Soon he had met Mindy and after a year he was married with child on the way. He knew it was best for a complete fresh start as a normal couple in a new place.

Mindy had seen a job posting online for a book keeping position for a company called Lust Industries. This company had taken up roots in a city called Bergsville. Bergsville was located dead center in the middle of Pennsylvania. It was bigger than most cities but not quite as big as New York City. Within the last few years the city has grown and become a thriving power driven community for both businesses and residences. Needless to say, Mindy applied, and now they were both on their way to Bergsville, PA.

One of the good things out of all this was that for the first time they would own a house. The house was a real nice two-story house. It was located in a community called The Bergs. It was a new housing development about thirty minutes outside the city. It made it nice, living in the city but not quite in it.

The rain hammered down as they got closer to their destination. It would be a new start, for all of them. He was even able to get a job for a local construction company as a mechanic of sorts. It didn't pay the world's greatest, but it was his first love. It was what he used to do before his days as a costumed hero. He was ready to embrace his new life as a "normal" citizen of the world. Madison just hoped his wife would never find out that he kept a part of his costume as a souvenir of his old life. Madison chuckled to himself as he passed a sign reading "Welcome to Bergsville."

Soon they pulled into the driveway. The moving trucks would arrive in the morning, so they could just relax and get some sleep. Madison grabbed his suitcase in one hand and his wife in the other and they ran through the rain and to the front door. He unlocked and opened the door. He then picked up his wife and smiled.

"Welcome to our new home Mrs. Jeffries."

"Why thank you Mr. Jeffries. Now I suggest you carry me on out of the rain and into something more heated," she said with a grin.

"Your wish is my command," Madison said as he quickly took his wife inside and shut the door behind him.

---

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Felicia Hardy got up and walked over to the window. She looked out and down into the city below. Felicia backed away from the window quickly when lightning flashed again. She went and sat on her bed and gazed at the window. She chuckled to herself. Was it possible that she, Felicia Hardy the former fearless Black Cat, was afraid of a storm? Or maybe it was the feeling of being alone, in a new city and in a new apartment on her first night.

It didn't matter. She had made a decision and she was going to embrace it. She needed a reason to get away from New York and all the drama there. She finally had to get away from Peter, Flash and all the heartache. She wanted to finally start a new life and have a fresh start. That is why when she received a phone call to host a local talk show she was on the first plane out of New York.

There was a television station in Bergsville, PA that wanted to expand its business by broadcasting it's own original television shows. Their first step was to run a talk show and broadcast it locally. If it took off then they would try and go statewide then eventually nationwide. If that succeeded then they would produce more shows. First, they needed a very sexy and savvy host who could take the show by storm. That is where Felicia came in. As she was having a final argument with Peter, a scouting agent saw her, and now she sits in her newly furnished apartment in downtown Bergsville.

She was a bit nervous so she couldn't sleep. Plus the storm didn't help much either. She thought about slipping into her old "identity" and scaling the city, but knew better. This city was safe, and she made a promise to herself that she was done with that life. Now that she had a real job and a new life she didn't need to risk that by becoming the Black Cat. She wanted to focus on her new career first. It was time Felicia Hardy became a household name.

She looked over at the clock. "Eleven p.m.," she really needed to get to sleep.

She had to report on the set at six a.m. to meet with the producers and staff. There was a lot to go over and get ready. The show was set to debut in one month. Felicia rolled on her back and kicked her legs in the air as she giggled. Finally things were going right for her. A new life, a new exciting career and a chance at fame and stardom, too bad she didn't have anyone to share it with. With that thought, Felicia sighed, turned off the light and drifted off to sleep, alone.

---

"Sir, I wish you would come away from that window. That lightning is bound to strike you in your chair," John Giles said to his master.

"You worry too much," Jesse Crow said as he swung his wheelchair around to face his servant. John was more than just a servant; he was his only family. He had been his father's butler and even after his dad's death, John remained as a servant and friend to Jesse.

"What seems to be on your mind," John asked taking a seat near Jesse.

"I really don't know. I mean, here I am, thirty-two years old and all alone in this giant mansion. What do I really have to show for my life," Jesse sighed.

"Well sir, what about the good deeds you have done?"

"What good deeds? If your referring to my stunt as the mysterious super hero named Black Crow you might as well be crazy. No matter what I do, there are too many better, well-known heroes out there for me to be recognized. Who cares about a man who can become a strong Indian warrior, bolt of lightening, a crow, summon fog and has minor healing powers when you got heroes like the Avengers and X-Men out there. I think it is time for me to do something before I end up wasting my life away here in this wheelchair," Jesse cried.

John smiled and threw the mail on the table next to Jesse, "I think you're right sir. Maybe a change would be good."

Jesse nodded as he glanced at the mail on the table. On the top of the pile was a magazine. Jesse picked it up and flipped through it till he found the page. After a few minutes he held up the page and yelled over to his dear friend.

"My dear Mr. Giles, pack our bags. I am selling this whole estate. I am going to buy this smaller mansion estate here in Bergsville, PA. This magazine of homes says it is located on the upper West Side of the city. It is in the richer area of the city. This mansion was a one-person owner and it is a lot smaller and nicer than this large dark place. I think what I will do when we get there is I will buy a building in the city and start my own business. I will leave the Black Crow behind and embrace a whole new direction in my life. What do you think?"

Mr. Giles laughed at his master's rambling speech. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Jesse so happy and excited. "Sir, I will make the arrangements in the morning and soon we will be off on a new and exciting adventure."

Jesse drove his wheelchair back over to the window and peered out into the storm. For once in his life he felt good. A whole new city he could call his own. It was time he started to live instead of wasting away here in the past and that living would begin in Bergsville.

---

The Greyhound pulled into the station. Dozens of people ran off the bus and ran for cover from the pouring rain. A lone girl stepped off the bus. The twenty-something girl brushed her reddish-brown hair with her fingers as she stepped into the rain.

"Lady, what about your bags," the driver shouted at her.

The girl looked down at the suitcase she held in her hand. "This is all I have."

She then turned away from the driver and headed down the street. The drenching rain didn't bother her. She was tough. She had lived through far worse than a little rainstorm. The stories she could tell, and they were not ones she was proud of.

She had wasted years of her life in a group called The MLF. This wasn't a super hero group by any means. They were known as an evil mutant terrorist group. She had done many bad things to a lot of people. She was not proud of her past. They were her first family though. She had no one else and they took her in. It was the only life she knew, even though deep inside it felt wrong.

Eventually, two members, Sunfire and Moonstar had become good and showed there was another path to take. That is exactly what she did. A few months ago she renounced her identity as the Dragoness and decided to make a better life for herself. She wanted to be good, not evil. It would be tough to shut out her anger and hate, but she would try. She wasn't sure what she would do, but what she did know was that she had to find a new start somewhere far away.

She walked down the street, soaking wet from the rain. She was tough, but she knew if she didn't get out of the rain soon, she would catch a cold. She looked over and saw a small café across the street. She quickly crossed and went inside. Everyone turned and stared at her soaking wet form. She went to the corner and sat down at a booth. In the old days she would have blasted them all for looking at her that way.

"Get a grip Tamara. Got to watch that temper," she said to herself.

"What can I get you," the waitress said coming up to her.

Tamara glanced into her purse. She didn't have a lot of money. "I will have a coffee and a bowl of soup please. Oh, and what city am I in?"

"You're in Bergsville. I will be back with your order," the waitress said and walked away.

_Bergsville_, Tamara thought to herself, _not a bad name for my new home. Now I need to find a place to live and a job. I will be well on my way to a normal life._

The waitress brought her soup and coffee and Tamara Kurtz began to eat, planning on what she needed to do next.

**One Month Later**

Madison looked at his watch, "Seven p.m.," it was late.

They were forced into mandatory overtime today to finish getting the production done. He knew Mindy wasn't too happy about it, but the extra money would be nice. They needed to save all they could before the baby came and they would be down to one income for awhile. Two more hours and they would be done. Thanks to days being longer they could work later. At least it was Friday and he could relax for a couple of days.

The work wasn't that tiring. He loved doing it; it's just been so long that he wasn't used to it yet. The time flew by real quick. Before he knew it, it was nine o'clock. He called Mindy and told her he was going to eat something at the diner across the street before coming home. He was famished. He gathered up his things and headed over with the guys for a quick bite. As they ran across the street a limousine slammed on its brakes and honked. Out of reflex Madison did a back flip out of the way.

"Used to do gymnastics in my old home town," Madison lied to his co-workers who were staring at him.

Madison turned to say something to the limo driver but he had already driven on ahead since no one was hit or hurt. Madison shook his head and headed into the diner with the others.

The sliding window separating the back and the driver went down. The limo driver looked back at his passenger and blushed. He had wanted to say something to the gentlemen crossing the road but his master had insisted to keep moving forward.

"I can't believe you almost hit them," Jesse shouted.

"I am sorry sir. My night vision isn't as good as it used to be. I just wish you would have let me apologize to them," Mr. Giles said.

"No, since no one was hit there was no point. Besides, the last thing we need is a confrontation. We have to get to my new store. I want to make sure everything is ready for our grand opening tomorrow," Jesse said excitedly.

The last month had gone smoothly for him. He was settled in his new mansion and hired the staff he needed to maintain the estate. After that he had went downtown and found a building for lease and bought it. Now his business was ready. He was going to specialize in the selling of alternative books and items. His grandfather was an Indian shaman so he owned tons of books and items. Even though he never wanted to be a shaman, he could buy and sell things related to that and much more.

The limo parked in front of the store and Mr. Giles got out. He walked over to the door and opened the car door for Jesse. A ramp automatically dropped out and allowed Jesse to wheel out and onto the pavement. Jesse moved his chair to the front door.

"Would you do the honor John," Jesse asked.

John walked up next to Jesse. He looked to make sure no one was watching and then held out his hands and spoke, "Kcolnu y Tcetorp!"

The store shimmered and then the front door opened.

"Thank you old friend, see I said I gave up my identity but I never said you couldn't still dabble," Jesse said with a chuckle as he drove his chair into the shop.

Jesse looked around. The place looked great. All the merchandise was in place. It was a small two-story shop. First level was full of items, real and novelty. If you took the steps upstairs there was a whole library of different types of books and material. Now for the more serious customer or certain items, a hidden back room contained high level merchandise. The room was only visible if they allowed it to be. Otherwise no one would ever know it was there. Jesse looked over at the desk where the register/computer sat, along with security cameras. Everything looked ready.

Both Jesse and John jumped when the door chime went off. They turned around to see a dashing beautiful platinum blond hair woman standing inside the shop.

"Hi, sorry to bother you two, I know the sign says opens tomorrow, but I was passing by and saw the light on and I really need to find a restroom," The lady said.

"Sorry ma'am, we don't have a facility here. I think there is a diner a few blocks down from here," Jesse said, captivated by her eyes.

"Thanks anyway. Have a good night," she said as she ran out the door.

"You know old friend, I think we forgot something that just cost us the rarest and magical item of all," Jesse whispered over to his long time servant and friend.

Felicia walked down the street very fast. She couldn't believe that they didn't have a bathroom in their store. Even though they suggested the diner she just went back the other way. It was closer to her apartment anyway. Felicia looked at her watch.

"Damn! It is already after ten. I promised the girls I would meet them at the club at ten," she swore out loud.

Either she needed to invest in a car or learn to be more on time. She knew neither would ever happen.

She felt bad about being late; she was to be the guest of honor. The girls wanted to take her out to celebrate. Everything was ready and all the billboards and promotions were running everywhere. Monday her talk show debuts. They wanted to party with her one last time before she became too famous for them. She couldn't wait. "Getting Down With Felicia" watch out Oprah and Ricki Lake, Felicia is in town. Felicia laughed as she thought about her new show.

Suddenly Felicia bumped into someone as she was rounding the corner to her apartment building.

"Watch it," the lady screamed and walked on.

Felicia watched as the girl kept walking. _I thought all the rude people were left back in New York_, Felicia thought to herself as she ran up and entered her building. She didn't have a lot of time. Her friends were waiting for her.

Tamara was so focused she didn't see the lady as she took the corner. After the collision Tamara swore at the lady and kept going. She didn't mean to be rude but she was late. For a month now she had been trying to get her new life started. It was so hard to find a job here. Especially when you are from out of town and don't have a place of residency. She applied at a temp agency and for the last month was able to work many various jobs.

It wasn't the dream she was hoping for but it would have to do for now. She was making enough money to eat, get a few clothes and the necessities. With the money she had coming in, she only had enough left over to rent a storage locker and pass at the gym. She could keep her stuff locked up and had a place to shower. The gym closes at eleven o'clock. If she wasn't there by then, she would end up sleeping on the streets till morning. It wouldn't be the first time, but she didn't like it. Once inside she could sleep in a hidden room, and wake up to her watch alarm without anyone knowing she was there. Only bad thing was it meant having to wake up at four thirty in the morning so she could sneak into the showers and look like a customer when they opened at five.

Tamara knew of an easier way to live and survive, but she refused to resort back to her evil ways. She was determined to live an honest and true life. Eventually she would find a steady job, get an apartment and be on her way. Until then it was working odd jobs here and there and sleeping and living at the local gym. She finally reached the gym. Her watch read "10:45." She made it just in time.

She moved quickly into the women's locker room. She had to change into her nightgown and get into her room before they did facility check. As Tamara opened her locker she heard the voices of three women talking. Obviously they didn't know Tamara was there.

"I don't think we should do this," lady one said.

"Hey, we all took jobs at Force Job Agency. This is the assignment we were given," said voice two.

"Yes, and to not go through with it would mean our terminations," said voice three.

"All we have to do is break into the bakery and destroy it and get out. There is no one in this town that will stop or even catch us," said voice two.

"Not only that, the pay would be enough to move to the high life," said voice three.

"Okay, okay. Let's go get this over with," said voice one.

Tamara watched as the three ladies left. Her first instinct was to chase after, but she couldn't. If she left then she would be locked out of the gym, but her new outlook to do "good" told her to follow. She was torn. Finally she opened her locker and grabbed out her bag and unzipped a hidden pouch. She pulled out a green outfit and mask. She quickly ran out the gym and into an ally. After a few minutes Dragoness was flying in the air, out of site, following the three girls. The special lenses in her mask allowed her to see greatly in the dark. As the three girls walked up to the bakery they had a little surprise.

"Kind of late for a cake isn't it," Dragoness said as she landed in front of the girls.

"Who is this? I thought we would be in and out with no trouble," girl one shouted.

"It doesn't matter. We can take her," said the second girl.

Lady number three put her hands out in front of her, calling on her mutant powers causing a swirling ball of energy to form and fire out at the Dragoness. Dragoness easily dodged the blast but gasped as it hit the bakery instead causing the front to explode in a blast. Then girl number two waved her hand and the small flames from the explosion intensified and the whole place went up in a big burning inferno. Lady number one walked up to Dragoness and pointed her finger and a pull of gravity pinned her down to the ground.

Felicia stepped out of her bathroom and glanced outside her window. She thought she heard something. Her eyes widened as she saw a building going up in a blaze of flames and heard people screaming. She also saw three women standing over someone in some kind of costume.

_So much for my night out_, Felicia thought to herself. As much as she swore this life off she couldn't ignore the call for help. Felicia ran into her bedroom and found what she was looking for. After a few minutes the Black Cat leaped out the bedroom window. Black Cat grabbed her grappling hook and shot it out latching onto another building and swung her way to the scene. With a quick movement she landed knocking down the three women.

"What is going on here," Black Cat yelled.

"I followed these three and they blew up this building," Dragoness said as she felt the gravity weakened and she was able to stand up.

They both turned to see the three ladies back on their feet and facing them.

"What was that," Jesse shouted at the sound of an explosion.

"I believe that there is a building on fire up the street. I also hear people screaming," John Giles said.

"What should I do? Call 911," Jesse asked.

"Actually sir, I will call 911. I think you know what you should do," Mr. Giles replied.

"But, I can't," Jesse started to say but was interrupted.

"But nothing. This is your chance to be the hero. Go now!"

With a sigh Jesse closed his eyes and called forth his mystical powers. In a blast of light and smoke Jesse Crow was no longer in his wheel chair. Standing next to the chair was a tall muscular Indian warrior, wearing a mask and holding a spear. The Black Crow was reborn.

"I shall return," Black Crow said and then in a mystical flash Black Crow became a crow and flew towards the fire.

Black Crow arrived at the scene as the three women had turned to face two women in costumes. The crow's senses told him the three ladies not in costume were the ones responsible. In a flash the crow became the mystical Indian warrior.

"What is going on here?" Lady number one screamed.

"I don't know, since when are their costumed heroes in this city?" voice two asked.

"It doesn't matter we can take them," voice three said as she sent a blast of energy at the Black Crow. The blast hit him and sent him flying backwards. The third girl called her powers and forced gravity to pin the Dragoness and Black Cat to the ground. Lady number two laughed as she prepared to use her powers to bring the fire over and engulf the two heroes.

Madison was eating his sandwich as he heard a big explosion.

"What was that," he shouted.

"Police scanner says a 911 call just came in saying the bakery not too far from here is on fire and that there are people trapped above the building," the waitress said behind the counter.

Madison knew that he had made a promise and that he had to get home to his wife, but he couldn't ignore the sound of innocents needing help. Madison dashed out and ran to his car parked across the street. In the trunk he lifted a secret compartment and found a big briefcase. Thank God he hadn't gotten around to bringing it into the house, but then again subconsciously he knew it would be safer in the trunk from his wife finding it.

Madison grabbed the brief case and ducked back into the alley. Within minutes Madison had used his mutant powers to cause the metal and plastic of the trash and buildings around him to combine with a few items in his briefcase to create an armored costume around him. To be on the safe side he made his costume with a purplish black color and more animal-humanoid looking rather than robotic looking. He looked nothing like his old identity of Box. He was soon leaping across rooftops. He finally reached the bakery. He panned and took in the situation. Three ladies were taking on three costumed people. The Indian looking guy was blasted back by one lady and another lady had the two costumed women pinned to the street. The third lady was waving her hand causing the fire from the building to slowly creep towards the two women pinned to the street. He than looked up and saw the flames from the building spreading upwards towards a family trapped above the bakery.

What was he supposed to do, two women about to be burned to death. The Indian warrior was about to be blasted again by the other lady and he didn't know if he would survive another blast like that, especially at that close of range. Then there was the family in the burning building. If he didn't get to them soon they would be killed in the burning destruction of the building. Madison really hated days like this. Not the pulled out of retirement comeback he would have wished for. All he knew was he had to do something and do it quickly for time was running out for everyone.

**Next: Issue #2 – The Beginning – Part Two**


	3. The Beginning Part Two

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #2 – The Beginning – Part Two**

Predator knew he had to act fast. He decided to rely on his gut instinct that the other three costumed people were good guys and would react quickly. Predator leaped into the air. His thrusters blasted on his boots propelling him high and far through the air towards the burning building. As he flew through the air he twisted his arms quickly and pointed his right arm towards the Black Crow and fired off a mini blast and from his left arm he fired a concussion blast at the girl standing over the two costumed ladies.

Girl number three was calling forth her power, ready to send an energy blast directly at the fallen Black Crow. Just as she was about to release the blast she was blown to the ground by a blast into her back. The Black Crow quickly got to his feet. He flipped his wrists and held them up. There was a dark black & blue Indian feather on each finger. He then whipped his hands down and the ten feathers flew at the girl laying face down on the ground. When the feathers struck they were not soft but actually sharp knives. The girl was now laying face down in the ground, pinned through her clothing, unable to get up.

"That will take her awhile to get out of," Black Crow said as he shifted into the form of a crow and flew towards the other two girls.

Girl number one laughed as she watched her partner draw the flames towards the two costumed woman she had pinned to the ground. As she took in a deep breath of laughter a small explosion went off and she started to inhale a swarm of gasses. She began choking and coughing. She dropped to her knees weak and light headed. Her concentration over her powers stopped and gravity reverted to normal.

Black Cat felt relieved as soon as she was able to move her limbs. She quickly back-flipped out of the fires way. Dragoness was on her feet and called forth her powers and shot out a dozen stinger blasts at girl number two. The blasts missed as girl number two was swatted to the side by a muscular Indian warrior, who had appeared from the form of a diving crow.

"She was mine. I can fight my own battles bird man!" Dragoness screamed.

"I am sure you can miss reptile, but me and cat lady here can handle these three girls. You are needed up there with our savior to help the family caught in the fire. You have wings and can fly. You are better equipped to help them," Black Crow said.

Dragoness didn't have time to argue. She knew this man was right. She had to help the family. With a snarl she turned and flew up towards the burning building. As she approached the top window where a family of four was screaming, she saw their initial savior. A man in a purple costume hitting the side of the building, his fingers slicing into the side of the wall and then quickly climbing up to the top of the roof.

He turned and looks over at her. "The building is going to go any moment. Can you fly the family to safety?" The Predator asked.

"Sorry, I may be able to fly, but I am not strong enough to carry all four at once. The building will go before I could fly them each at a time," Dragoness sighed.

"What powers do you have?" Predator asked.

"I generate bio-electricity," she replied quickly.

"Okay I have an idea. Can you create a field of bio-electricity and contain it an inch from the window and down to an inch above the street and not touching anything else?" Predator asked.

"Yes, I think I can do that," Dragoness replied.

"Then do it. I will take care of the rest," Predator shouted.

Dragoness hovered above the window and called forth her powers. Electricity began to form around her eyes. Her special mask diverted the power from her eyes and down so it looked like it was coming out of her mouth instead of her eyes. A wave of bio-electric "dragon's fire" spewed from her mouth and went down pass the window and stopped an inch from the ground. Dragoness strained and beads of sweat formed as she used and controlled her mutant power in a way she had never done before. She was shocked that she was doing it, even though it was taxing on her.

Predator took two pellets from his wrist, combined them with his powers and then shot them at the "electric slide". When it hit, the whole top layer of electricity was coated with a rubbery substance. Soon the "electric slide" looked like a rubber escape shoot used for get-a-ways on an airplane.

"Okay folks. The rubber coating will protect you from the electricity. Quickly, jump and slide down the slide," Predator shouted.

The family of four quickly did as they were instructed and slid safely to the ground below. They then ran for cover as the building erupted in flames and collapsed to the ground, totally destroyed.

As the building exploded and began to collapse downward Predator leaped from the top of the roof using his boot thrusters to propel him a great distance. He felt alive and in control instead of some pawn of Department H or Weapon X. He was liking his new image and new life.

Once the family was safe Dragoness canceled her power and the electric slide disappeared. The rubbery substance bounced to the ground as the Dragoness turned as the building exploded and collapsed in flames. She quickly looked and saw the Predator leaping from the top. She quickly flew at him.

"I got you," Dragoness shouted as she caught him and flew him safely towards the ground.

Black Crow turned to the other costumed lady as Dragoness flew off. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I am fine. The names Black Cat not cat lady. Looks like we have three angry ladies walking our way," She replied.

They both turned to see the three ladies coming towards them. Black Crow acted quickly. He called forth his powers and surrounded the three ladies in a thick, dense fog. "There, they can't use their powers on what they can't see," Black Crow said.

"Yeah, and we can't take down what we can't see either," Black Cat sassed. "Okay, get rid of the fog and let's hit them hard and fast."

The fog vanished as quickly as it had arrived. The three ladies were standing in confusion. Black Cat, knowing the lady who controlled gravity was the worst threat, leaped at her and knocked her out with one punch. Girl number two turned on Black Cat, as girl number three advanced on Black Crow. Black Cat, who had once again developed her power, was ready to use it. Her nails grew forming small cat-like claws through her gloves. She then called forth her powers and leaped at the girls slashing at her body.

The girl sidestepped out of the way but wasn't able to avoid a small scratch, drawing a little blood, across her back. Black Cat somersaulted around and turned to face her opponent. A small scratch was all that was needed for her powers to work. Girl number two waved her hand and a ball of fire flew from the building and soared at Black Cat. For some reason the ball of fire went wide, missed Black Cat and engulfed the girl instead. As she screamed from the fire she used her powers to make the fire go away.

The burned girl, on her knees looked up at the approaching Black Cat. "You see, even though it isn't a long lasting effect, but a scratch from a black cat causes temporary bad luck to all those who cross her path," Black Cat laughed as she knocked the girl out in one swift punch.

Girl number three thrusted out her arms and sent a blast of energy at Black Crow. Black Crow leaped up into the air and flipped out of the way of the blast. As black Crow landed on the ground he reached behind him and grabbed a small wooden rod from his back. By the time his arm was back in front of him, the wooden rod had become a long wooden spear with Indian feathers on it. He quickly used the bottom end to sweep and knock the girl's feet out from under her. He then stepped over her, using the flat end of the spear blade so as not to cut her, whacking her across the head knocking her out.

Black Crow looked over and saw Black Cat taking out her opponent. He then turned just in time to see the family running to safety. The building was lost, but at least the family was safe and the bad guys were captured. He felt a ping of goodness inside. He had been the hero today.

After binding and securing the ladies for the police the four costumed heroes took off out of site as the police and fire department showed up. A few blocks away, in an empty warehouse, the four heroes of the night faced each other.

"When I came to this city I thought I would be rid of super powered villains," Predator said.

"Well, stud, looks like there might be more to this city than we all thought. Besides the badies, there just happens to be four "heroes" too," Black Cat chuckled as she eyed the Predator.

Predator avoided her flirting eyes as he looked at the others. "Any idea why they were there destroying that bakery?"

"I have no idea. I do know that I did over hear them saying something about them working for a company called Force Job Agency," Dragoness said, but being careful not to reveal too much as to not expose her identity.

"Well, we can't just go barging into that place making accusations until we get more hard evidence of what happened tonight. All I can say is that we should all keep our eyes open. I have this feeling that there may be more than meets the eye in this city," Predator said.

"Yes, I agree. We could all work together and act as a protective team for this city. Kind of like the cities protective Wild Pack," Black Cat said grinning at her cleverness.

"No way am I joining a super team with you," Dragoness said still holding a grudge against the Indian Warrior. "I am willing to work with you guys but I am not about to become buddy-buddy team mates," She finished glaring at Black Crow.

"Well, as special as this night is, I must be going. I have to be up tomorrow morning. I do need my beauty sleep," Black Cat said as she winked at Predator and leaped out the window and into the night.

"I agree. I was due home hours ago. Let's just keep our eyes open for now. Take care and thanks again for all your help," Predator said as he leaped out the window. He may be able to protect the city against bad guys but how was he going to protect himself against his angry wife at home?

"I am truly sorry for upsetting you. I hope we can at least be friends," Black Crow said as he turned into a crow and flew out the window.

Dragoness wasn't thrilled about the Black Crow, but she had other things to worry about. First she had to be up and at work in the morning. She wanted to see if there were any permanent assignments, plus she was going to keep her eyes a little more open at Force Job Agency. Just incase there was a bigger connection between those three girls, the agency and the burned down bakery. Looking around at the empty building, Dragoness sighed.

"Guess this is about as good as any place to sleep tonight," Dragoness said aloud as she began to remove her mask and wings.

---

Madison woke up to the sun pouring into the living room window. His back was sore from sleeping on the couch. Despite saving four people from a fire, she was upset that he broke his promise and had put on a costume again. What was he supposed to do? He can't ignore innocent lives; but then again he had a wife and a child on the way to think about. Madison sighed as he mentally swore he would forget the Predator and leave the city to the other three heroes he had met last night. He hit the TV remote and the TV came to life.

"Investigators are still baffled by the burning down of Bob's Bakery last night. No one knows the cause of the fire. Three woman arrested in suspicion of the fire and found tied up were released this morning from custody cleared of any charges. Police and City Officials claim it was a mix up and that they were helpless victims at the wrong place at the wrong time. Supposably they were tied up as part of a gang prank and did not see the cause of the fire, for when they came to, the place had been burned down. The owner of the bakery, Bob, and his family are right now being kept at a safe house until they can be questioned later. Due to not speaking English, all we can get out of them for now is something about an Angel with wings saving their lives. More will be known tomorrow when a special translator arrives from New York. Now the weather."

"I don't believe it!" Jeffries said shutting off the TV.

"Can't believe what dear?" Mindy said walking through the doorway from the kitchen.

"They released those three women today. I can't believe they got off. All the evidence is there. There is something about this that doesn't seem right. Their only chance of getting the answers is when they talk to the family tomorrow," Jeffries said.

"Well, the paper said that the guy flying in tomorrow is the same guy who helped with the translations when the family purchased the building and financed the loan from the bank. Anyway, this is no longer your concern, right?" His wife glared.

"That is correct. I will leave it up to the professionals," Jeffries said. He knew he wasn't suppose to become the Predator anymore, but something at the back of his mind told him that there was something going on, and that the thought of the bakery family still being in danger, made him still keep and hide the costume. If the Predator were needed, he would have to be more careful about his other identity.

"Now honey, are you sure you don't mind me leaving you today?" Mindy asked.

"Oh you're fine. I want you to have a good time with your parents and your sister. They want to pick you up and take you back to Harrisburg then let them. Let them take you and spoil you. It's not very often your sister flies in from Australia wanting to see her family," He said.

"I know. Thanks for understanding. It has been a long time since I have seen my sister. I will be back late tomorrow night. Are you sure you don't want to go?"

"No, I think I will work on getting that nursery finished and painted," Madison said.

"Okay, but I warn you, no "going out tonight" understand?" Mindy glared.

"I won't. It will be movie night at home for me," he said with uncertain truth.

Madison stood up and kissed his wife and then helped her take her luggage out to her parent's van that had just pulled up and honked. At least he would be alone tonight.

---

Felicia was mad. She had just seen the news and couldn't believe her eyes.

"Oh well, I did what I could. No point in worrying about it now. I have learned from the past that without sticking evidence there is no way to hold the criminal world," she said out loud and then walked over to the kitchen table and sat down.

As great as her new job was, it didn't start till Monday. After that she would have the money coming in if it was a hit. Until then she had to watch her money carefully. She had decided to place an ad for a roommate. There was an extra bedroom. A den really. She was going to use it as an office but decided to use it as a second bedroom. With a roommate to split the costs, it would save her money. Plus, even when her show was a hit and she became rich, she would have a friend to keep her from being lonely.

She did have the girls from the show, but they weren't true friends. Plus, they were still very mad at her for ditching them last night. She had tried to convince them this morning that she didn't ditch them but had something unexpected come up, but they didn't believe her. At least with a roommate she could hope to establish an actual friend here in this new city. She had said in the ad that she would be taking applications and interviews today until 4pm. Felicia stood up and sat on the couch waiting for the phone and door buzzer to announce her possible roommates.

---

Jesse rolled his wheelchair to the front door and turned the sign over in the door from closed to open. He then went and placed himself behind the counter.

"Well John, look at them pouring in. 10am and Arts of the Crow, is officially open for business," Jesse exclaimed.

"I can see that sir," John chuckled as he looked around the empty store and then went and tapped the "Help Wanted" sign in the window. "Are you sure you really want to hire an employee?"

"Yes. You and me both can't be here all the time. We need someone to help out here incase one of us can't be here. The new hire can help regular customers incase one of us has to help "special" customers. I know we aren't busy now, but I think in time we will be glad to have another body around this place," Jesse said.

"Well sir, you are the boss. By the way, I called that Force Job Agency and they are sending someone over today," John said.

"Good. I am hoping they will work out. I have a feeling that the only way to find out more about this job agency is if we have one of their employees working for us. This person will either lead us to their true purpose or might actually become an agent for us on the inside. Either way, we will have a connection to the place that might have been involved with the bakery burning down," Jesse said as he turned to see their first customers walk into the store. John went to greet them and Jesse sat back at the counter pondering all his thoughts.

---

Tamara walked out of the gym. It felt good to shower after sleeping all night in that warehouse. She was excited. She had stopped by the job agency on the way to the gym and they had given her an assignment. If this job worked out it would be a temp to hire position. She would finally have a steady 9 to 5 job. If she got this job then she definitely could afford to find an apartment and not sleep in the gym or on the streets.

As she turned the corner she looked at the piece of paper in her hand. "Arts of the Crow, ask for Jesse Crow". She stopped and looked up. The sign on the building said "Arts of the Crow, Alternative Bookstore and Novelties".

"This is the place," Tamara said as she walked into the store.

She looked around and saw a few people walking around. An older mystic looking fellow approached her.

"Welcome to Arts of the Crow. How may I help you?" John Giles asked.

"Hi. My name is Tamara Kurtz. I'm here from Force Job Agency. I'm here about the job. Are you Jesse Crow?" She asked.

"No, I am." Tamara heard a man say as she turned to see a man in a wheelchair roll up.

"Oh, I'm Tamara, nice to meet you," She said shaking his hand.

After a little small talk Jesse took Tamara to a private area and conducted an interview. After about thirty minutes Jesse showed Tamara to the door.

"Congratulations Tamara. You have the job. Be here Monday morning at 9am," Jesse said to her.

"Thank you so much Mr. Crow," Tamara said as she walked out of the store. She couldn't believe it. He didn't care about her background (of course she didn't say anything about her other identity) or that she was new in town. She now had a steady paycheck and job. Plus, Jesse was hot. She couldn't tell why but she was totally attracted to him. Could this day get any better? Just as she started up the street she saw a sign on a building door that said "Buzz room 207 if you're here for the roommate ad".

"Hello?" Came the voice.

"Yes, my name is Tamara Kurtz. I am interested in the roommate ad."

"Come right up," the voice said as the front door buzzed open.

Tamara ran into the building. With the job she knew she could swing this. Hopefully luck was still on her side and she was able to get this apartment. She reached apartment number 207. She knocked on the door. After a few minutes the door opened.

"Hello, you must be Tamara. I am Felicia Hardy. Come on in," Felicia said to Tamara.

Felicia and Tamara talked as Tamara gave her the tour of the apartment. After about an hour the two women bonded and were having a great time talking. It was decided. Tamara would move in tomorrow. Tamara was so excited. No more sleeping on the streets or in that stupid gym. She had a place to live, a new job and a new friend. Everything was finally working out. Tamara left her new home in a great mood.

---

The Predator leaped from rooftop to rooftop. With his new identity, he wanted to scrap "Box" completely. So he had used his powers to adapt his costume to make him and his persona more predator-like and nothing resembling a shape-shifting robot.

With his wife gone he could easily patrol at night. With a little detective work he was able to find the safe house of the bakery family. He found it odd that they were staying in a vacant house with no neighbors around them. Something didn't seem right. Suddenly he saw a movement to his right. He turned and was about to fire a blast from his wrist when the figure shouted.

"Stop, Predator. It's me, Black Cat."

"What are you doing up here?" He asked.

"Well, I was washing my hair when I saw you go across the rooftops from my bathroom window. I caught a whiff of your sexy cologne and had to follow you. So what are you doing?"

"I have a feeling our bakery family may not be too safe tonight. Especially with the translator coming tomorrow."

"Well if you don't mind, I'll keep watch with you."

Predator rolled his eyes behind his mask and leaped to the next rooftop as Black Cat followed close behind him.

As they reached a safe spot they sat and watched the house the bakery family was staying in. Predator looked at the top of the house and saw a crow sitting on the chimney. He nodded; seemed Black Crow had the same idea as him. All they needed now was Dragoness and the team would be together again. Predator was about to laugh at this thought when he saw three women approaching the building. He knew it was their three girls but this time they were wearing costumes. He was about to leap when off in the distance he saw Dragoness following them. _Yup the teams all here_, he thought to himself.

Predator set his camera up on the rooftop and set it to broadcast. With everyone seeing this, there was no way the girls would get off the hook this time. Right on schedule, the one girl caused the door of the house to blow open and the other girl made the small spark become a huge flame. At the same moment, Predator and Black Cat leaped to the street below as Dragoness and Black Crow flew at the three villains.

"We have to get the family to safety!" Predator yelled.

"Way ahead of you chief. I evacuated them an hour ago and have been waiting ever since," Black Crow said.

"Not you people again," one of the girls said.

"Move quick girls. We have been ordered to kill the family. So let's take them out and get our job done," Another of the girls said.

Predator knew this should go easier this time. He shot a blast at the gravity girl knocking her backwards. Black Crow caught her and knocked her unconscious with his spear.

Black Cat distracted the other two girls as Dragoness came up from behind. She called forth her powers and released her "dragon's fire". A flame of electricity left her mouth and engulfed the two girls shocking them into unconsciousness.

After a few minutes the four heroes left the scene. The girls were tied up again and this time it was all on tape and broadcasted. They smiled as the cops took them away. The four were once again alone together in a safe place.

"This is the second time we were all drawn together. Must be charisma or fate," Black Cat said winking at Predator.

"I agree. Where I come from my ancestors would claim the spirits have called us together for a reason," Black Crow said as he felt his desire to be an actual hero come forward.

"Maybe so, but let's not get all weird here. I do agree that there is something going on in this city. I think maybe we should all work together to uncover this secret as well as protect our home here," Predator said, unsure if he was ready to be part of another team again.

"Yes I agree. I just think it is a little too soon to go all Avengers & X-men, you know," Dragoness said.

"Yes, we all need our privacy but yet this city needs all our help," Predator said and then pulled out three devices from his costume. "Put this in something you wear all the time. It is a communicator device. If anyone is ever in danger or needs help, push it and it will alert all the others of your distress and location," Predator finished.

"Then it is agreed. We our unofficially this cities wild pack of animal protectors," Black Cat toyed as she placed her arm out.

"Yes, to the Wild Pack," Predator said beginning to like the idea, but also thinking of the secret he will have to keep from his wife.

"To the Wild Pack!" They all said again together with their arms out in the center. With their oath they all flew off in their separate directions to their separate homes.

**Next: Issue #3 – Water Slides Not For Sale Here**


	4. Water Slides Not for Sale Here

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #3 – Water Slides Not For Sale Here**

Mindy kissed her husband as she went out the door to head for work. Madison wasn't really fond of her still commuting to work anymore. She was getting closer to being due. He just didn't want her on her feet or getting stressed out and have something happen to the baby. Which also meant that he had to be careful about his job. Not the construction work but his "night" job.

Madison had a little time before he had to head off to work. Today they were starting the construction of a new building. After the bakery burnt down, the family left town and nothing more was said about the incident. The three girls were sitting in the city prison. Luckily there was a division built to hold powered criminals, just in case they ever appeared in this town. They may have gotten off once but now there was no way around it they had to serve a sentence.

As for the burnt bakery, it was completely demolished and removed. The construction crew was now being instructed by the city to finish clearing and cleaning the site and then start the construction of a new building. It is going to be the home of the new radio station. Bergsville will not only have its own local television station but now will have its very own local radio station, BV104 FM. The city here just keeps growing and growing. So far everything has been normal since then and the Wild Pack hasn't been needed. Which was a good thing. He didn't like hiding the Predator from her, so he was glad he hasn't had the need to put the costume back on.

His computer came to life. With a sly punch of keys at the same time a hidden window came up. He typed in a password and in a few minutes he was online on a secure network using his own secret account. The only time he used this account was for "Predator Business". Thanks to some friends high up and his good knowledge he had an Internet account no one could tap into, not even the pros. He pressed the button for e-mail.

You've got mail. The computer's voice replied.

He had one e-mail in his account. He quickly clicked on the "read" button.

_Dear Predator,_

_Hey there. Hope all is going well in your new life. Well, I thought you had given up the life till I got this e-mail. I guess you can take the Predator away from the city but you can't take the city away from the Predator. Anyway, I ran a background on those three names you gave me. They don't exist. Who ever these three ladies are, these are not their real names. I hope this helps. _

_Take care,_

_Heather _

"I knew it!" Madison screamed out loud. "Somehow they were booked and processed under false names. I don't know how that could have happened, but it has and there is nothing I can do about it. Now, the only reason it was done was to keep them from being traced back to something or someone. Who and what, is the question. If I could find out who these three ladies are I would have a good clue and lead to cracking this case. I just have this gut feeling that this is a small link to something huge and it involves this city."

Madison sat back down and fired up his scanner. He pulled out the newspaper and scanned the page that had the photo of the three ladies. After he scanned the photo he attached it to an e-mail and then he began to type:

_Dearest Heather,_

_I know I declined and said I was done with the hero business, but I need a favor. Attached is a photo of three women. Could you please work your magic and identify them for me. I would greatly appreciate it. Consider it my baby shower gift. _

_Thanks,_

_Predator _

Madison then sent the e-mail, signed of the computer and quickly ran out the door so he wouldn't be late for work.

Felicia was running around like a frightened cat. She had to look especially good today. Her show was a huge hit. According to the numbers more and more people were starting to watch it. 'Getting Down With Felicia' was doing very well. She had been told that today some big wigs were going to be watching the show and if they liked it then big things would happen. If it was a go, they were going to push big time for the next few months till the numbers showed that almost everyone in Bergsville was watching it.

Once that was established there would be talk of testing a new concept with the show, one that wouldn't be disclosed to her at this point and time. If it continued to work then they would broadcast to the whole state of Pennsylvania then after that they would link in with an affiliate in New York and work on broadcasting all over the United States and then maybe the world. She was so happy. Finally she would be famous, more famous than good old Mary Jane.

Felicia, on her way to grab a bagel from the kitchen bumped into Tamara. She still wasn't use to having a roommate, but she did enjoy it, even though she wasn't as exciting as she was.

"I am sorry Tamara. I am in such a frenzy I can't see or think straight."

"It's ok Felicia. I know you got a big show today but I am just as anxious as you are."

"Why is that?" Felicia asked as she took notice that Tamara was actually dressing up for once. "And what is up with the attire? I thought you were allowed to dress in comfort at that book place you work at."

"Well, I got a call yesterday from the agency that placed me there. They want to do a follow-up evaluation with me. Jesse has requested to switch me from temp up to temp-to-hire and then pay the fee releasing me from them and hiring me as permanent hire. So I have to meet with them and then sign the appropriate paper work. Then I can start my probationary period and if all goes well in a few months or so I will have my first actual permanent job," Tamara said with excitement.

"Well good luck honey," Felicia said as she waved and darted out the door.

Tamara was soon out the door too and walking to the agency. She had never felt better. It was so nice having an actual job and a decent place to live. In a million years she never thought she would be able to accomplish a normal life and work on the side of good. It was so much better than the evil rough path she used to follow. Tamara came back to reality as she stepped into Force Job Agency.

"Glad you could make it in here today Miss Kurtz. Now I just have a few questions here before we sign the paper work," Tamara's supervisor said.

After about an hour the interview had started to come to a close. "Now Tamara, I have some other questions here. Do you know why Mr. Crow wants to hire you away from us? No What can you tell me about the layout and the items he is selling there? I am sorry, but I signed a confidentiality form and I am not allowed to discuss that I see" she said and then put her pen down after a few more odd questions.

"Okay, I want you to go ahead and read over these forms and then sign and date them all. One set is ours and one set is yours. I will be back after a moment while you do this, and then you can go," Tamara's supervisor said as she walked out of the room.

Tamara finished signing the forms and then looked at the clock. She really needed to get going or she would be late for work at Arts of the Crow. As she walked out of the office to look for her supervisor, she saw her escorting two men out the front door.

"Thank you so much for coming in. This job came up suddenly and we needed a couple of real good men to handle this one. Once it is satisfactorily finished, you can stop in and sign for the vouchers to mail you your paychecks. By the way Mr. Beacher, Mr. Bench, we don't take kindly to failure," Tamara's supervisor said as the men were out the door and then she headed back towards her office.

Do to them walking away and her supervisor in the way of view, Tamara was not able to get a look at their faces. Tamara immediately brought her attention back to her supervisor who was standing right in front of her.

"Papers all signed Miss Kurtz?"

"Yes. I as going to wait but I need to get going or I will be late for work."

"Oh that's fine. I have my copies and you have yours. Move along and we will touch base in a few months to see how your probationary temp-to-hire went and then hopefully release you to Mr. Crow permanently," She said as she shook Tamara's hand and watched her leave the building. She then walked into her office and picked up the phone.

"I have hired the new crew. I am sure they will get the job done. I'm afraid our original girl isn't going to work out. She won't talk and I don't think we are going to get anything useful out of her before she is gone. No sir, that won't be necessary. I don't think we have anything to fear to have to go that far. Don't worry, I will make sure the job gets done. The client will not be disappointed. Yes sir, I will keep you posted sir," She said as she hung up the phone and tended to her files.

Jesse sat back in his wheelchair watching the television. Normally he never watched the thing but during the afternoon there was one show he became accustomed to watching. 'Getting Down With Felicia' Ever since it aired he had never missed an episode. Hard to believe that she was the same woman he fell in love with the day she walked in his shop. He had never seen her since, except on the television set. He had found out that his new employee, Tamara, was a roommate with her.

He was too nervous to meet Felicia on his own let alone get the nerve to ask Tamara to introduce him. He had totally made a fool of himself that one night and didn't know if he could ever face her again. In time, he would work up the nerve to meet her. It was hard to believe that he, Bergsville's newest super hero was afraid of asking a girl out. Jesse began to chuckle to himself.

Speaking of girls, Tamara was working out great. She was so hardworking and dedicated. Sometimes he wondered if she had a crush on him the way she always stared at him. Either that or maybe she was just not use to seeing a man in a wheelchair. He would be glad when he had her released from that job agency and she was solely his. It will make him feel more secure with his business. He totally trusted Tamara; it was the agency he had a bad feeling about.

The show ended and he hit the off button on the remote control. He rolled over to his desk in his den. He started looking over his business books. He was getting edgy. After the whole bakery incident he had grown excited about the whole hero thing. He was afraid that that might have been a one-time occurrence. Nothing else had happened since then. There was nothing he could do but wait. Predator was doing some checking on those three ladies, but that was about it. Maybe tonight he would just go out on patrol and hope for once, that someone in this town might do something bad so he could be a hero. Jesse laughed as he looked back down into his books.

"Have a good night Tamara. I'll see you tomorrow," John Giles said as he watched her walk out the door.

As usual, today had been another slow day. There was no need for all three to be here so Jesse had stayed at home. John really wished business would increase, but Jesse wasn't worried. They owned the building and only had to pay the utilities. They did sell enough to pay the bills and Miss Kurtz salary. John was walking over to the computer to shut it down when he heard the front door chime open. He could have sworn he locked it.

"I'm sorry but we're closed. If you want to buy something you will have to come back tomorrow," John said as he began to turn around.

"That's okay. We don't want to buy anything. We just want to have a look around," came a voice of one of the two men John saw in the entryway.

John's eyes went wide at the site of the two men. He immediately knew they were here for no good intentions. One was a small toned fellow wearing a silver, full-body (including hands and head) spandex suit. He also had yellow elbow and kneepads, and goggles over his eyes. The other guy was more muscular, wearing a pair of green pants and a blue tight shirt. He wore no costume.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to leave." John said as he secretly hit the alarm button as he came around the counter towards the two men.

"I don't think you are going to do a thing old man," the muscular guy said as his arm became water and shot at John, hitting him in the chest and pinning him to the wall.

"Nice work Hydro-Man," the costumed guy said.

"Shut up Slyde. We don't have much time. We were hired to come in here, get some information and then get out. So use your fast sliding powers and zip around this place and find anything you can," Hydro-Man commanded.

"So what am I looking for?" Slyde asked as he slipped at super speed around the whole store.

"I don't know. Something good or we don't get paid. Look for anything of importance, any secret devices and anything that might state who they bought this building from. I know the boss wants a copy of the deed for some reason. I imagine to see who and how they bought a whole building unto themselves," Hydro-Man shouted.

Hydro-Man kept his eyes and water on the old man interrogating him for answers while Slyde zipped around the entire store.

Jesse was about to retire to his study when an alarm went off in the house. Jesse drove his wheelchair over to a computer monitor and hit a button. It was a distress call from his store. John must be in trouble. He was starting to wonder why he hadn't gotten home yet. Jesse closed his eyes and invoked the powers of his ancestors. In a swirl of smoke and a roar of thunder the wheelchair now sat empty. Standing to the side of it was a tall muscular Indian warrior.

Black Crow ran to the window and opened it. In a flash of light he transformed into a bolt of lightening and shot into the sky. In a matter of minutes the lightening bolt stuck outside the Arts of the Crow. In the mist of the smoke, Black Crow emerged and stormed his way into the store. A man running real fast stopped and looked at him while a second guy, who had John pinned with water turned and looked his way.

"Who the hell is that?" Slyde shouted.

"That's one of those freaks we were warned about. I will take care of him, you finish getting what we came for so we can get out of her," Hydro-Man said. He dropped John and then turned and made his arms become a flow of water hitting Black Crow dead in the chest and forcing him to crash through the door and back outside.

Black Crow was pinned to the ground. The water pressure was just not letting up. He didn't know why these goons were in his shop or what they were after but he had to stop them. He reached back and pulled out his spear and swung it on the ground knocking Hydro-Man's feet out from under him. Black Crow leapt back up on his feet holding his spear in attack mode. He had already hit the signal to notify the others. He needed some help, especially with another criminal inside his shop.

Tamara had just reached her street when her watch started to beep. She quickly looked and saw that Black Crow had sent the signal and it was coming from her work. She gasped in panic. She knew she shouldn't have left poor Giles to close up shop all by himself. She ran up the stairs and broke into her apartment heading straight for her room. She stopped for a second, she could have sworn she saw something move out the window. It must have been her imagination. She quickly ran into her room to put on her costume.

Black Cat had leapt from her window into the still of the night. As she flew through the air she shot out her cat-claw grappling hook. It caught onto the edge of a building and she swung to the street below. As she leapt around the corner she saw Black Crow and, "Hydro-Man! What are you doing in this neck of the woods?"

Hydro-Man turned to see one of his oldest and dearest foes. "Well, well, if it isn't the Black Cat. You know I could say the same thing to you," he said as his whole bottom half of his body became a flow of water and he moved up and over by her. He then moved his water-arms at her blasting her backwards.

"Nothing worse than a wet cat," he laughed out loud. He then moved closer to her.

Suddenly a series of stinger blast hit him in the back knocking him off course. Dragoness flew down towards him ready to release another series of blasts. Just as she neared him she was hit from behind at a fast speed and was flown across the ground hitting the pavement. Slyde zipped near Hydro-Man.

"Looks like you could use some help. I found what we were looking for. Let's get out of here. We are being paid to pick up some items not fight these clowns," Slyde said.

A loud boom went off and smoke surrounded the two villains. They turned in a coughing spasm to see the Predator leap to the ground in front of them.

"You two are not going anywhere," Predator said.

Black Crow was over helping Dragoness up. "Get your hands off me. I am fine," She snapped.

Slyde stepped one foot out and was moving at above human speed. Black Cat threw out her Cat-Claw sending it to wrap around his arm. Black Cat gasped in surprise as the end of the Cat-Claw slid right off of him. Slyde then turned around grabbed the end of the Cat-Claw and with a fast speedy jerk sent Black Cat up through the air. Black Cat felt strong arms around her. Predator had leapt up and caught her and landed them both safely on the ground.

"Thanks hot stuff," Black Cat said.

"Anytime. We need to get these guys detained fast. Any idea why they are here in Bergsville?" Predator asked.

"They were here trying to rob this store when I arrived on the scene," Black Crow said as he waved his hands and ten feathers slid to the tips of his ten fingers. He then waved his hands sending the feathers right at Hydro-Man. As the feathers flew through the air the tips became sharp as knives. They couldn't kill, but a scratch or direct hit (which they would be like a needle sticking into something, they are not made to actually stab and kill) would cause the serum to make them pass out.

Hydro-man turned his whole body into water, the feather-knives passing right through him, and forced himself against Black Crow pinning him to the ground with force and trying to drown him. Dragoness flew towards them. "Crow, lightening away now!" She yelled. Black Crow, straining for concentration, became a bolt of lightening and bolted away. At that moment Dragoness let loose her dragon's fire. A wave of electricity engulfed Hydro-Man.

There was a loud popping sound as Hydro-Man screamed and snapped back to human form. He then dropped to all fours, his cloths smoking. The lightening bolt came back down hitting Hydro-Man. When the smoke cleared Black Crow was standing atop a knocked out Hydro-Man.

"I could have finished it birdie," Dragoness snapped.

"I have no doubt you could have, it was just an easy fast solution," Black Crow said turning to avoid yet another argument between them.

"Whatever you super losers. I am out of here," Slyde said as he propelled himself at fast speed to leave the scene.

Predator had to act fast. He shot a blast from his wrist gauntlet right in front of Slyder. The bright explosion of the blast blinded Slyder causing him to stagger back, for a split second. At that second, Black Cat leapt at his ankles calling forth her powers and extending her nails into claws. She managed a small scrape at the ankle. A small scrape was all she needed for bad luck of crossing a black cat. Slyder stepped out and went off again at a super fast speed.

Just as he was about to turn a corner he looked back to see his foe blocks away. He turned his head back forward just in time to see that he had misjudged his fast turn and ran smack dab into the side of a car. Slyde fell backwards and hit the ground in a thump. Predator landed on the ground next to him and quickly ripped off the man's mask. He then punched Slyder sending him into dreamland.

The cops began to show up. It was voted on that Black Cat and Black Crow would talk to and help the cops detain the two criminals. The Predator and Dragoness waited upon a near by roof for the others to join them. Both of them had their reasons for not wanting to be caught on camera. Predator's wife and Dragoness's past. Eventually Black Cat and Black Crow joined them upon the rooftop.

"They have Hydro-Man in a sealed cage with no holes or cracks. There should be enough air in there to last him till the Guardsmen from the Vault arrive. Since Morris is wanted for crimes up in New York that is where he is going to be shipped. The other guy has no current warrants. Since his powers come from his suit they are going to detain him here in the local prison, where he will await trial and sentencing," Black Cat reported to the others.

"So what were they after?" Predator asked.

"They won't say. They found a layout of the shop with a few miscellaneous items. The police are holding them as evidence. I talked to the shop worker, and he said that he over heard them looking for the deed to the building. They wanted to find out from whom, and how the building was purchased. Apparently a Jesse Crow bought the building and the property and it wasn't done through the city or the local bank. The city has no rights to the building or property," Black Crow answered.

"I wonder who hired these two goons and why they want that information so bad?" Black Cat asked out loud.

"Hey, you mentioned the first name of that Hydro-Man. What do you know of them?" Dragoness asked.

"Well, Hydro-Man otherwise known as Morris Bench is a well known criminal up in New York. I have dealt with him many times in the past." Black Cat said.

"Getting a closer look at the other guy I finally recognized where I have seen him before. His name is Jalome Beacher. He used to study science with a friend of mine clear back in the college days. Me and Spider-Man have fought him, but this is his first offence in a very long time," Black Cat added.

Dragoness gasped, "What did you say their real names are again?"

"Jalome Beacher and Morris Bench," Black Cat answered.

"Why? What's up?" Predator asked.

"I have a feeling I might have seen those two guys somewhere before. My gut is telling me that there could be some connection between these two and those three ladies we battled awhile back," Dragoness said.

"Dragoness, before you go investigating those two, I'm waiting on some information on those girls. They gave fake ids so a friend of mine is seeing if she can get a hold of their real names. Once I get that, I will give it to you and then you check out both groups and see what you come up with," Predator said.

They all agreed and then went their separate ways. Something was up, but they decided to lay low till Predator got his information and then they would make the next move. For now they would just keep their eyes and ears open.

Madison came strolling into the house. It was almost 9pm. He brought the Chinese food into the kitchen were his wife sat.

"Where have you been?" Mindy scolded.

He quickly convinced her that the shop was closed and had to drive clear to the other side of town to make sure he got his pregnant wife her favorite dish. She easily believed him and they ate a nice diner. What helped was that the news coverage of an early evening robbery by two super criminals, said only two new heroes in town, Black Crow and Black Cat had saved the day. Good thing he had left the scene.

As Mindy headed up to bed he told her that he was going to check his mail real quick. She blew him a kiss and told him not to be long as she winked and faded into the upstairs. Madison signed onto his special account and saw he had an e-mail with three files attached.

_Happy baby Shower! Enjoy! Heather _

Madison quickly opened the three files and read them, "Bingo!" He shouted as he quickly saved the files and then ran up to bed.

**Next: Issue #4 – Family Matters – Part One**


	5. Family Matters Part One

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #4 – Family Matters – Part One**

The night sky was clear and filled with stars. The cool night breeze pushed against his body as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. As much as he had promised to give this up, it was hard to do. Nights like these made Madison, otherwise known as the Predator, feel alive. Just as he neared his destination he heard a scream. With his special eyepieces in his facemask he was able to scope and see into the night with ease. He finally saw his screamer.

Predator leapt to the next rooftop and peered over the ledge. There was two men trying to mug a woman in the dark ally. Predator pressed a button on his belt that would send a signal to notify the police. He then pointed his wrists downwards and fired off a couple shots. He then leapt over the edge and dropped to the ground below.

The two men were pointing their guns at the lady and demanding her to give over her purse when they heard two pops. They looked up to see the sky above them full of smoke. They stepped back as a dark came out of the smoke and landed between them. The first guy fired his gun. The Predator advanced upon the man as the bullets bounced off his costumed armor. Predator reached the man, grabbed the gun and crushed it. He then raised his hand at the man and shot a blast and knocked him out.

Predator quickly turned to see the second man making a run for it. Predator leapt forward and fired off a blast. It exploded in front of the escaping man causing him to fall backwards. Just as the man got to his feet he turned to see Predator leaping at him. Predator grabbed the man by the throat and pinned him to the wall. He blasted gas in his face and then carried the knocked out man back to where the lady and the other unconscious man were lying.

Predator quickly tied up the two men and then comforted the woman. She thanked him as he turned away from her. He then placed a disk on the two men. On the disc was the letters W and P. The cops would see that and know it was in regards to the Wild Pack, the new protectors of Bergsville. The disc could then be placed in a PC and would show the cops the complete evidence of these two men breaking the law. It was something the whole team had come up with and was equipped with.

As the sirens got closer, Predator made his leave. He ignited his boot jets and leapt up into the air. He then pointed out his wrists and two mini grappling hooks shot out snagging a near by rooftop. He easily propelled himself up and on top of the roof and took off towards his destination. He had called a team meeting. He had found out the identity of the three girls and had to share it with the team. He soon landed on his last rooftop. Predator stood to see that the other three were here, Dragoness, Black Crow and Black Cat.

"Glad to see that you decided to finally grace us with your presence sweetie," Black Cat said playfully.

"Sorry, I was caught up with two muggers. I'm sure they are having a great time with the cops as we speak," Predator said.

"So, there was a reason you called this meeting?" Black Crow asked.

"Yes, I contacted an old friend of mine. She was able to get me the id on our three women. Take a look at these holos," Predator said as he pressed a button on his belt and an image of the three women appeared.

"These are our mystery women; Gravity a.k.a. Tamika Jones, Fire a.k.a. Natalie Jones and Blast a.k.a. Tonya Jones. Tamika, Natalie and Tonya, otherwise known as the TNT Sisters. They were wanted for some major crimes but then disappeared from site. Now we know were they disappeared to, here in Bergsville and now in prison. Now we have to find out why they are here, who hired them and what the bigger plan was," Predator said shutting of the holos.

"Well there is no way to actually talk to them. My connections at the TV station say that they are locked down tight with no visitors allowed. No exceptions till their sentence is up," Black Cat said.

"Oh you know people at the TV station?" Black Crow chimed in.

"Yes, a close personal friend of mine works there. She helps on the set of 'Getting Down With Felicia'. She usually fills me in on any information or good gossip," Black Cat said quickly but nonchalantly.

"Enough with the TV chatter, what do we do next?" Dragoness said sticking her nose up at the two, especially Black Crow.

"Well, we have to take this carefully. So far we have a bakery that was burned down, by these three sisters. There is a new building being rebuilt there, a radio station. Those three girls, were able to avoid prison but now are incarcerated, but under false identities. Two criminals tried to destroy the "Arts of the Crow". One is at the vault but the other is being held in the same prison as the three sisters, and also in isolation. The question is; why did the sisters attack the bakery, and who hired them? Also, why was the shop attacked, and who hired them? Last question is; are the two incidents connected somehow?" Predator reported looking at each of them.

"Well, now that I have the names of those girls, I will check into my lead and see who they are connected to." Dragoness said.

"Good. Now Black Cat, check with your friend and see if you can get any information on anything with that bakery site and the new radio station. Black Crow, I want you to use your powers and sneak into the prison and see what you can get out of the four being held there. I'm going to sneak into city records and see what I can find about any connection between the bakery and the shop sites, and how our friends slipped through the system," Predator commanded.

"No problem. I can handle that," Black Cat said.

"Me too. Breaking into the prison should be an easy challenge," Black Crow said.

"Now listen to me you three. Don't do anything to get yourselves in trouble. We must keep our identities in good standing. Also, if something bigger is going on, we don't want anyone alerted to our suspicions," Predator finished before he said his good-byes and leapt off the rooftop for home.

As soon as the alarm went off Tamara jumped out of bed. She was up earlier than usual. She wanted to stop by Force Job Agency before she went to work. She wanted to slip in and do a little snooping about her old boss's office. The lady usually made it in about 8am. She was going in at 7am. As far as the rest of the place knew, she would be there for a meeting.

As Tamara went to the front door she heard a knock. Tamara paused; they weren't expecting anyone here at this hour. Tamara peaked through the peephole and saw an older woman, late 50's, smoking a cigarette. The lady almost looked like an older and more white-trashed version of Felicia. Tamara opened the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" Tamara asked.

"Yes missy, you can tell me if this is the right place to find Felicia Hardy?" The woman asked.

"Mother! What the hell are you doing here?" Felicia screamed as she came to the front door.

Tamara took that as her cue to leave. She had to get going. She was on a time crunch. As Tamara made it down the steps she ran up the street towards Force Job Agency. Tamara was confused; she was under the impression that Felicia had no living relatives. She would have to catch up with Felicia later. Tamara looked up at the agency building. She took a deep breath and walked in.

She sat in the waiting chair right outside her old boss's office. Everyone in the building assumed she was only there to meet with her boss, so they paid no attention to her. At this time of morning, this area was empty. Tamara took a quick look around and saw that the close was clear. She got up and stood by the door and touched her finger to the lock. A quick zap of bioelectricity and she was in the office.

Even though she was breaking in for the side of good, she still felt an old evil thrill. After a few minutes Tamara found what she was looking for. A folder marked special payroll. There were five entries:

Tamika Jones…Assignment completed…Paid in full/after jail release…New job pending

Natalie Jones… Assignment completed…Paid in full/after jail release…New job pending

Tonya Jones… Assignment completed…Paid in full/after jail release…New job pending

Morris Bench…Assignment failed…Payment declined…No rehire/In vault/No action pending

Jalome Beacher…Assignment failed…Payment declined…No rehire/In jail/Term. Pending

Note: Still waiting payment from contractor to FJA for hired services. See special client file 3

"Bingo!" Tamara screamed aloud, "Those three girls and those two guys were hired by this agency. Now I need to find file 3 to see who paid for the services and then find out," She said aloud.

"Find out what Miss Kurtz?" Tamara's old boss interrupted causing her to drop files all over the floor.

"Nothing, nothing at all. I was looking for a piece a paper to leave you a note why I couldn't stay for our meeting," Tamara lied, her power boiling as the urge to defend ate at her.

"Forget the meeting. Tamara Kurtz, you are fired from this agency. You ever set foot in here again you will be arrested. Guards, escort her out," her boss said as the guards escorted Tamara out the building.

Tamara's old boss walked over and picked up all the files and papers. She then placed a call.

"Sorry to disturb you sir, but we have a problem. I caught Tamara Kurtz looking through my files. I have fired her," She said.

"Don't worry. No matter what she saw, there is no why she can connect anything. Carry on business as normal. I will personally see to Miss Kurtz," the voice on the other end said.

"Yes sir." She said as she hung up the phone.

Madison kissed his wife and went out the door. He felt bad for lying to her. She thought he was going to work but he had taken a personal day. He was going to sneak on down to the city building and see what he could dig up on the computer system there. After about thirty minutes Madison found himself in downtown Bergsville. He parked his car in the parking garage and then stepped into the stairwell.

Predator flew across the top of the parking garage to a near by office building. After a few minutes of discrete roof hopping, Predator found himself on the top of the City Building. He had already gotten the layout of the building, so he knew what room he needed to go into. He scaled down the side of the building and peered into a window. No one was inside. He slipped in and locked the door from the inside. He would have to move fast.

He started searching records and archives. Hacking and breaking into systems for information was a specialty of his. After a few minutes he had only uncovered that the bakery and Mr. Crow's building were on the only lots that were not owned by the city. He also saw that they were planned for special projects. He wondered if the radio station was one of the special projects, and if so, what was planned for the spot were the shop was.

Predator swore, he couldn't find anything else. The system was either completely cleared or severely hidden and protected. He was going to try a few more in depth searches for the special projects when he heard a large commotion outside. He switched off the computer and looked out the window. There were five ninja-like warriors clad in dark blue full-body suits. They had another man cornered in the ally. Looks like it was time for Predator to even the odds.

Predator leapt out the window and down towards the darken ally. He fired off a few blasts. As he landed into the ally he noticed the guy fighting off two of the ninjas. Obviously the man was trained to fight, but where were the other three. Suddenly a gush of wind threw him back.

Predator jumped to his feet as he saw the other three ninjas facing him. One of the ninjas was moving his hands in a fast motion. In that motion, it was like he was propelling the winds and causing a current to blow. The second ninja fist punched the air directly towards him, sending an electric bolt right at him. Predator quickly leapt up and out of the way. Nothing worse than fighting ninjas, but it made it tougher when they were super powered ninjas.

Predator fired off a series of blasts at the three ninjas. The third ninja made some kind of motion with his hands and did a hand thrust projected outwards. Predator's mouth dropped as he saw that as the blasts got closer and closer to the ninja the slower they got. To his surprise, the blasts shattered into a million pieces when they hit his outstretched hands. The ninja had somehow made the air so cold in front of him that it caused the blast to freeze and become brittle allowing him to shatter them with ease.

Predator had a quick idea. He fired a blast at the ground covering him with smoke. When the smoke cleared the ninjas saw Predator still standing there. The three ninjas flew at the Predator. They stumbled in shock when they passed right through him. Predator shut off the hologram and leapt out of the shadows firing off a dozen rounds of concussion blasts. There was an explosion and then the smoke cleared. Predator stepped over the three ninjas lying on the ground and ran towards were the other guy was fending off the last two ninjas.

One of the ninjas turned from the guy and looked at Predator. He waved his hands and then brought them together in a fast clap. At that moment, a loud boom projected from the clapped hands sending a wave that shock the alley and sent Predator stumbling backwards covering his ears. Predator leapt back upon his feat as the ninja advanced on him.

Predator flew up and side kicked the ninja sending him backwards. Predator shot off a flare blinding the ninja. He then flew in low and fast smacking the ninja in the face with his armored gauntlet clad hand. The ninja went down, out cold. Predator ran to assist the other man. The other man was holding his own with some impressive Karate moves. The last ninja glanced over and saw his fallen comrades. The next few moments were like a blur.

The ninja flipped up and back landing between Predator and the guy and his fallen comrades. He waved his hand and then struck the ground with his fist. A wall of wavy heat came up, making things kind of blurry. Then after a few moments and hand gestures, the wall of heat became a wall of fire. Predator shot a pellet at the fire extinguishing it. When the fire cleared Predator saw that all five ninjas were gone. Predator then turned to the guy he had just saved.

"You mind telling me what's going on?" Predator asked.

"Yes, and thank you," the man said out of breath. "I'm a very skilled fighter, but it has been a long time since I have used my skills."

"What was going on? Who were those guys and why were they after you?" Predator pressed again.

"Sorry, those guys are known as the Storm Clan. They are a very select clan of genetically powered ninjas. I don't know who leads them, but they were contracted out to bring me in. See my name is Rob Diamond, and I was part of a group called the Sons of the Tiger, lead by the White Tiger. I am the last of the Sons, and I am here looking for Madison Jeffries. I came here looking for his help since his brother Lionel, was one of the Sons," Rob said as the Predator gasped in shock.

It was a beautiful morning and the sun shown down on Bergsville City Prison. All was quite except for a cawing of a black crow flying overhead. The crow flew closer and closer to the prison until it got closer to the window of a cell. The bird flew in and passed threw the cells and into the corridors. Nobody seemed to notice or care about the small black bird flying about. The bird flew fast and with stealth. The bird was looking for something and someone. After, what seemed like forever, the bird finally found what he was looking for, a sealed door.

Behind the door was the special containment unit built for super powered criminals. The bird stared at the door, as it tried to decide how it was going to get through that door. Suddenly the form of the black bird shifted and a bolt of lightening struck at the door. At that moment, the lightening caused a feed back shutting down all cameras in the special containment room, and fusing the door shut so it would take a long time to get the door open by anyone else.

The two guards inside the room jumped as they saw the cameras, the door and computer console blow out. They gasped as a bolt of lightening came flying out of the door and struck the ground in front of them. When the smoke cleared the lightening bolt was gone. In its place stood the massive figure of the Black Crow standing over two unconscious guards. Black Crow looked out and saw dozens of sealed tight containment cells. All of them were empty but four.

Black Crow saw the forms of Slyde and the TNT Sisters. He knew that the sisters would be a lot harder to get information out of so he went over to Slyde. Slyde just stared out at him as he approached. Slyde wasn't even wearing his costume, so technically, he was powerless. Black Crow stood right up to the cell and glared in.

"Jalome, I need some information from you," Black Crow said.

"You keep your mouth shut, or you'll be sorry!" One of the TNT Sisters yelled.

"Never mind them. I need to know why you attacked the shop, and I want to know who hired you," Black Crow commanded.

"What's in it for me if I talk?" Slyde asked.

"I'll get you out of here and give you a special pardon for your crimes," Black Crow said.

"Keep your hole shut!" Another of the sisters shouted.

"Well it's established that you four are connected some how. Now speak Jalome," Black Crow said.

"We were hired to break into the shop and see what kind of items were being sold. Just to scope the place out. Also, we were supposed to acquire a copy of the deep to the land. My employer wanted to know who and how the land was acquired separate from the city. That's all I know. I swear it," Jalome blabbed.

"You are so dead Jalome!" Another of the sisters shouted.

"So who hired you?" Black Crow pressed.

"I was hired by," Jalome started to say and then stopped frozen in mid sentence.

Black Crow jumped as he saw Jalome freeze, then fall forward, a blade in his back. Standing behind Jalome was a sinister looking man. His arms where made of long sharp blades, one of which was in Jalome's back. The man pushed Jalome off his blade-arm and walked out of the containment cell where he had originally sliced through. He walked up to Black Crow who was already preparing for battle.

"You were so right Tamika. Consider Slyde's contract terminated," the man laughed.

"Who are you?" Black Crow shouted.

"Name's Cutter. I would stand around and chat but I was hired to come here and take care of Slyde. He knew the boss doesn't tolerate failure. As for the girls, there is another job that is needed of them. So just stand aside bird man and no one will get hurt as I free my girls here and take leave," Cutter said as he walked towards the girl's cells.

"I can't allow that. You have murdered a man in cold blood. For that you must be contained," Black Crow said as he flicked his wrists and flung a dozen feather knives at Cutter.

Cutter turned and his arms shifted to blade form and sliced all the knives to the side. He then ran at the Black Crow, swinging his bladed arms.

"I see you want to dance, okay bird man, let's dance," Cutter laughed.

Black Crow had his spear in hand in an instant. He sidestepped and used the spear to sweep Cutter's feet out from under him. Black Crow ran and landed on top of Cutter. Both his feet standing on the blade arms so they could not move. He then held the staff, arrowhead pointed at Cutter's throat.

"Looks like your little dance is over. You are going to tell me who sent you and then you are going to be joining your friends in prison so you can go on trial for murder," Black Crow said.

Cutter started laughing real loud, "You know bird man, you should really be more careful when fighting unknown foes. A skilled warrior like yourself should know to be more careful and take time to evaluate your opponent. That way you don't fall for unexpected surprises.'

"What are you babbling about?" Black Crow sneered.

Cutter smiled as his leg and foot became a sharp blade. He swung his leg up forcing his foot-blade into Crow's back. Black Crow dropped his spear as he opened his mouth in shock. Cutter removed his foot and pushed Crow off of him. Cutter stood there and saw Black Crow standing there, blood running from the back and front wound. Cutter walked over to where the girls were as Crow fell face first to the ground. In a matter of moments he had freed the girls.

Crow reached his arm up and out as the four villains left the room towards the back were Cutter had originally came in. Crow's eyes became blurry as he began to see a bright light. Black Crows breathing began to slow as he saw the spirit of his grandfather walk out of the light to come claim his kin.

A big giant man sat in his office. He was looking over the numbers for his business. It was tough running a business, but here in Madripoor, he was feared and revered. He sat there in concentration when the phone rang. He reached over and picked it up.

"Yes?" He asked into the phone.

"I am sorry to bother you sir, but there is a gentleman on the phone that would like to speak to you," the lady on the other end said.

"Take a message. I told you I was not to be disturbed under no circumstance," he shouted into the phone at the lady.

"I know sir, but he said it was concerning your daughter. I thought you would want to take this call," she said in fear.

"Put him through now!" He commanded.

Soon the lady's voice was replaced by the voice of a man.

"Sorry to bother you," he started to say.

"Bother me? Who the hell do you think you are? Do you know who I am? I could have you killed in a heartbeat. My daughter is dead; she died years ago when she was barely a teen. You dare dishonor my family?" He shouted.

"I mean no disrespect, but I have information you might want to hear. Your daughter is not dead. She is actually very much alive. If you're willing to strike a deal, I can tell you exactly where to find your daughter, Mr. Kurtz," the voice on the other end said as the big giant man stared into the phone and then allowed an evil grin to form.

"Okay mister, let's talk."

**Next: Issue #5 – Family Matters – Part Two**


	6. Family Matters Part Two

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #5 – Family Matters – Part Two**

"NO! I forbid it!" Screamed Mindy Jeffries as she stared at her husband, who wore his Predator costume, minus the mask.

"But honey, I have to. It's my brother, I have to save him," Madison pleaded.

"How do you know he's telling the truth. I mean you're brother is suppose to be dead. This could be a set up of some sort," Mindy cried.

"Mindy, dear, I know he's telling the truth. I could always feel that he was still alive and this confirms it," Madison argued.

"I told you I wanted you to end these costume antics. The fact that you're wearing the costume now tells me you've been deceiving me all this time. Call one of your pals to handle this for you. It's time you leave this up to the other authorities and start living your life as a civilian, husband and a soon to be father," Mindy screamed back.

This argument tore at his heart. Madison hated to see his wife in such anger and pain. He understood that with the upcoming baby she no longer wanted him out risking his life. She had to understand, though, that this was his brother and he had to go to his rescue. He paced back and forth; he had to decide something fast. Rob was waiting for the Predator to return to where he was being hidden. He didn't want to wait too long, in fear that those super powered ninjas would return for Rob. He turned to his wife.

"Mindy, sweat heart, you know I love you so much. I promise that when I get back from saving my brother, we can talk more about this whole Predator thing. Please understand I have to go. I love you," Madison said as he kissed his wife on the cheek and willed his facemask on.

Predator ran up the stairs as he heard his wife put her head in her hands and began to sob loudly. It tore his heart, but time was precious and he had to get to Rob and then his brother. He quickly looked out the attic window and saw the close was clear and he leaped out and into dusk sky. He finally made it to the top of the roof of where Rob was hiding out. He quickly pressed a few buttons on his wrist indicator. He knew this was a solo job and didn't have time to alert the rest of the Wild Pack. When they tried to contact him they would receive a message saying he had been called out of town on an urgent matter and would explain when he got back. With this settled he leapt into the building.

Out of quick wit and reflexes Predator flipped back and out of the way of a flying kick. Predator came back around and fired off a couple wrist blasts. The figure flipped up and over the blasts and landed on his feet right in front of Predator. They both locked eyes and stood in silence. Finally the figure relaxed and stepped forward.

"Sorry Predator, you had been gone so long I didn't know who that could have been coming through the window," Rob Diamond said.

"No problem. I had to contact Madison, Lionel's brother, and tell him what was going on. He has been reassured that I won't come back without his brother. Plus, I had a few affairs to tend to before I could leave town. So before we head out, you want to bring me up to speed with what is going on?" Predator asked.

"To make a long story short:

"Years ago, there was a great dark warrior calling himself Shou Kahn. He was intent on world domination and the power of the tiger. A final showdown came between Shou Kahn and his ninja warriors verses White Tiger and the Sons of the Tiger, which consisted of me, newly joined member and Madison's brother Lionel, Lin Sun and Lotus Shinchuko and five others that were killed during that battle. In the final moments of the battle, White Tiger sacrificed his life to save us, the world and put an end to Shou Kahn. I am still foggy on what he did, but there was a big explosion. Just at that moment, a force picked up us remaining four members of the Sons, and threw us away from the explosion. We all got up and looked and saw that the building, Tiger and Shou Kahn and all his followers were gone. With Tiger gone, we still felt like a part for him lives in us.

"So after that we hung up the Sons of the Tiger and went our separate ways. I went back to Hollywood to pursue my career as an actor. The other three went back to New York and opened up a dojo to teach young kids. We didn't really keep in touch that closely. Last letter I got is that Lionel and Lin had gotten in a fight over Lotus and Lionel left and never heard form him again. Years had gone by when Lotus showed up on my doorstep.

"She told me that a unknown benefactor had sent these super powered ninjas, the Storm Clan, after the Sons of the Tiger for some reason. She told me that they already had Lionel and just got Lin. Not too long after they had found us they captured us. I managed to break free and knew I had to search out Madison, because Lionel said that his brother had super power connections. That is the end of the story. As for who sent the Storm Clan and to why they want us, I have no idea. All I know is where they are at and that we need to save them before it is too late," Rob concluded his tale.

Predator nodded and then pulled out his cell and placed a call. After a few minutes he told Rob that they had to get to the airport because an old friend would have a private jet there waiting to take them to Hong Kong. He didn't explain why, but she said consider this her last gift to him and that was it, other wise he would have to start owing her. Predator motioned to Rob and they darted out the building window and headed out to find his long lost brother.

-----

At first it was dark, and then a sense of calm washed over him. Suddenly there was a bright light and Jesse Crow found himself standing in an area of pure white glowing space. He looked down and saw that he was standing and had full use of his legs. Jesse wasn't quite sure he knew where he was. Suddenly a haze of white fog appeared and an older man walked through. He thought the man looked like his grandfather, but he wasn't sure. He had left the Navajo Indians when he was 18 and hadn't looked back.

"Oh, my dear boy. I knew one day we would meet again, but not this soon. Yes, it is I, your grandfather, Crow of Black," the ancient Navajo Indian said.

"Grandfather? If you are here, does that mean I'm dead?" Jesse said with concern.

"Not quite my boy. You are between places. I was able to capture your spirit before crossing over to join the spirits of the ancestors. I pleaded your case and with all the good you have tried to do in the world, the ancestors allowed it but on one condition, you must make the decision," Crow of Black said.

"Decision? What are you talking about?" Jesse asked.

"Weather to cross over, or to choose to return to the land of the living, and truly accept the role of the Ancient Navajo Spirit Warrior," Jesse's grandfather answered.

"What are you talking about, I'm already a hero." Jesse replied back.

"Yes, Jesse, in heart you are, but not in spirit. Sit down my boy; let me tell you a tale of your ancestry, the one you abandoned years ago. To make your decision you must know your roots," Crow of Black said as he guided his grandson to sit next to him so he could tell his tale.

Jesse, confused, sat across from his grandfather. Crow of Black then pulled a pipe out from no where and then took a puff. As he blew the smoke out it expanded and engulfed Jesse and his grandfather completely. Suddenly everything went foggy white.

-----

"Is that any way to great your mother?" Lydia Hardy asked as she pushed past her daughter and walked into the apartment.

"Well, what do you expect, I haven't seen you in ages. Why after all this time do you look me up?" Felicia asked closing the door and following her mother around the apartment.

"Well, I can see you have done well for yourself," Lydia said as she examined and took the whole apartment in, " not to mention you're a famous TV star."

"Oh is that why you contact me know after all these years? You want money?" Felicia snapped at her mother.

"Oh I want a lot more than that my dear," Lydia murmured barely above a whisper.

"What was that?" Felicia asked as her mother waved her away.

"Actually, an old friend of mine, who lives here, sent me a tape of your show asking me if it was you. Once I saw the tape I realized what a fool I have been and decided I would like to attempt to rekindle my relationship with my daughter," Lydia said as a tear dropped from her eye.

Felicia just stared. Something wasn't right about her mother. What was all this leading up to, and why hasn't she brought up the whole Black Cat and her father argument? Felicia decided she would hear her mother out, but would keep her guard up till she knew if her mother had another agenda all together.

"Okay mother, let's talk. Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I get you something to drink," Felicia said walking into the kitchen.

Lydia walked over to the TV and switched it on. She sat down as the volume projected into the living room.

"This late breaking news development just came in. A great prison break has accrued at Bergsville Prison. From sources and security cameras it is said that the three woman being held there have been freed by an unidentified man with blades as arms," the TV news blared.

"Oh rubbish, let's see what else is on," Lydia said as she grabbed the remote.

"No!" Felicia yelled running over and grabbing the remote and turning up the TV, "Hush I want to hear this."

"Sources also state that at the scene were two bodies. Jalome Beacher, otherwise known as the criminal Slyde, was found dead at the scene. Another shock was the second body. The Bergsville hero known as Black Crow was found lying in a pool of blood. He has been rushed to the hospital where he remains in critical condition," the TV continued.

"Oh my God! Mother I have to go. I need to go get coverage for my show. You behave yourself and we'll talk when I get home. Also tell my roommate Tamara when she gets back that I stepped out for a few," Felicia yelled as she ran into her room and grabbed her outfit and leaped out the window.

Lydia got up and froze when she saw Felicia gone and the window open. Lydia scratched her head trying to figure out why her daughter went out the window instead of the front door.

-----

Tamara was almost home. What a day she had had. She couldn't believe what had happened at her old job. It was better off now that she was sure they were up to something. She knew for a fact that Force Job Agency had hired those men and women. They only answers she didn't have were why and who contracted them. She knew the answers were somewhere in that office. She knew that she would have to go back there, but not as Tamara. Suddenly she looked up as she saw a man yelling at her.

"Oh Miss Kurtz, I am so glad to see you!" Yelled John Giles as he ran out of the Arts of the Crow shop.

"What is going on Giles?" Tamara asked.

"There has been a big family emergency. Jesse has already left out of town, and I have to go too. Could you go in and after the customers leave close up shop and cover for us till we get back?"

"Oh my, I hope Jesse is okay. Yeah sure I can do that, go," Tamara said as John threw her the keys and disappeared from sight.

Tamara stepped into the shop in a fit of panic. She was suddenly worried about Jesse. She hoped nothing bad had happened to him. She would just die, especially since she had never taken the chance to tell him how she feels about him. She sat there watching the last of the customers go out the door when her watch beeped. She looked down and saw that it was a distress call from Black Cat.

Tamara quickly closed up shop and ran for the apartment. She would have to get her outfit. As she ran she got a funny feeling. She stopped and turned around but there was no one there. She shrugged guessing it must be her imagination. Soon she was at the apartment. As she entered her home she saw Felicia's mom snooping in her room.

"Can I help you?" Tamara shouted.

"Oh I'm sorry. I'm Felicia's mom. She had to run out real quick and said she would be right back. I guess I was just trying to entertain myself and then I glanced and had to come in here. This is a nice looking guy, boyfriend?" Lydia said quickly holding up the picture of Jesse Crow.

"Um no. That's my boss. Now if I could please ask you to get out of my room," Tamara snapped.

Lydia quickly walked out and smiled. She knew from the reaction that this woman must be in love with her boss. She then sat in the living room and watched TV. She would stay out of the way for now. Tamara went in her room, shut it and locked it. She quickly put on her outfit and flew out the window. She had to reach Black Cat quickly; the distress signal was marked very urgent. As she flew, Dragoness kept getting the feeling someone was following her.

-----

Predator and Rob Diamond stood hidden in the trees staring at one of Hong Kong's greatest castles. According to Rob, the Sons of the Tigers were being held in there. Getting in would not be too hard. They were going to go in the same way Rob had gotten out. They made their way through the trees, and with Predator's skills they made it in without detection. Before long they came out deep within the castle. Rob led them to a door and indicated that this was where they were being held.

Predator got the door opened, and stepped through and froze in shock. There were three bodies hanging from chains, battered and bruised. The shocking factor was seeing his brother again after all this time. Predator ran towards him and looked into his eyes. Lionel opened his eyes and looked at the Predator.

"I see my brother sent help," Lionel whispered.

"No brother, I didn't send help, I came for you myself," Madison said.

Before Predator could say another word a great force of wind picked him up and threw him backwards. Predator quickly jumped up as he saw five figures walking towards him and Rob.

"Predator, it's the Storm Clan," Rob shouted as he went into fight mode.

Predator quickly released mini blasts at the ninja known as Wind. As the blasts neared Wind, they suddenly froze solid and then dropped to the ground. Predator turned to see the ninja known as Cold step up to the plate. He then released a flare shot at Cold to stop him with a little fire. Just as the flare neared Cold, it erupted in fire and then danced and then flew into the figure of another man, the ninja known as Heat. Predator looked over his shoulder as he saw Rob battling the rumbling and power of Thunder and Lightening. This wasn't going to be easy.

Predator let of a gas pellet and fogged out the whole room. Predator than quickly leapt up and landed behind Wind and Cold, using the might of his suit to slam their heads together knocking them out. When the smoke cleared he was facing Heat. Heat's eyes flared as it suddenly got very hot around the Predator. Suddenly his whole costume was a blaze of fire. Predator quickly thanked God for allowing his suit to be fire proof, but if he didn't move fast, he could still be cooked alive in this thing.

He blasted up in the air and shot his grappling hook and flew up into the ceiling. As he swung through the air the fire went out. He then landed back to the ground sending blasts at Heat. As heat focused his powers on the blasts, Predator took his opening. He rolled onto the ground and fired off another blast. Just as Heat dodged the first blasts, he was too late to do anything about the next one. Soon, Heat dropped to the ground from the direct hit. Predator turned around to see Thunder and Lightening dragging Rob and chaining him up with the other Sons.

Predator raised his wrists and prepared to fire off a power blast at the back of both of their heads. Before he could get the shots off he felt a power blast hit him from behind. Before Predator could get up, blast after blast kept hitting him. He had never felt such pain and power. Suddenly the blasts stopped. Predator cold barely move. His costume was dented and torn all over. He looked up to see a Japanese man in his thirties, wearing a Kimono of sorts walking into the room. His hands were smoking from the power blasts he had been sending off.

"Shou Kahn?" Rob blurted out as he hung limp in the chains.

"No, he died along time ago with the White Tiger. I am Lou Kahn, his son, and I have come to finish what my father started. To claim the power of the tiger for myself," Lou shouted as he invoked some chant and thrusted out his arms.

Blasts shot from his arms and engulfed all four members of the Sons. Predator, weak and now being held down by Thunder and Lightening, watched helplessly as his brother was attacked. All four members of the Sons began to glow a bright green. Suddenly their chests exploded in a series of green light as a green glowing piece emerged from each of their chests and flew towards Lou Kahn. All four Son's head dropped as the glow faded from them and they hung there with blood dripping from their chests.

"The power of the Tiger will now be mine!" Lou Kahn shouted as all four pieces merged together in front of him and began to glow fiercely. Suddenly, with great power and force the merged pieces exploded engulfing Lou in green light.

-----

"So as you can see, from the start of our ancestors civilization, the power of the Crow has been ours. Each generation, the power of the great Indian Spirit would be passed down to the firstborn son. That son would take the power into his spirit and become one with it and use it to protect our people. It was a great honor and the chain had never been broken till me.

"See when I was born the power flowed strong in me and black crows had sat flown over at my birth. Hence I was named Crow of Black. I was a great warrior and did our people proud. Then it came time for me to be a father and await the passing of the spirit. Unfortunately, for me, I had sired a daughter instead of a son. The fear of having to wait another generation for a son to be born was scary.

"When your mother blossomed into a woman, our people were attacked and your mother was raped. From that event you were born. Because she had heard your father's name being shouted she named you after him as a reminder of your American link and then gave you my name in balance.

"Because of the link, you, Jesse Crow, did not adequately receive the power of the warrior spirit. Along with you always giving into your American nature, kept blowing off your ancestors and heritage. Which leads you to you abandoning your people and running off at age eighteen to be on your own. Because of a mutant gene you are allowed to tap into the spiritual power. That is why the spirit power has worked the way it has for you. I do see, that now with time you have gained control over it commanding it at your own will but not the spirit warriors true power and potential.

"Here lies your decision, you can choose to join the spirit of your ancestors, or you can chose the warriors quest. If you chose the quest, you must take a journey and fight your way back to self-discovery and life. There is one catch, the true spirit comes from within, so you must do it as Jesse Crow, not Black Crow. Choose now," his grandfather concluded.

Jesse had been here sitting for hours it seemed like getting his whole family tree's history and the importance of the power of the Navajo Indian Spirit Warrior. Maybe that is why he hadn't made it as a great super hero and always seemed to fail. He knew what he needed to do.

"I accept the quest grandfather. Too many are counting on me back in the world of the living for me to leave them now," Jesse said as his grandfather led him to a doorway.

-----

Black Cat stood looking over Black Crow's body. He was still in critical condition. He was being kept alive with the help of machines right now. Black Cat swore. Predator was out of town and she had no idea where Dragoness was. She should have been here by now. Plus she didn't like the idea of her mother being left alone in her apartment unsupervised. Black Cat glanced over at another man sitting in a chair next to Black Crow's bedside. All she knew about this man was that he was the Black Crow's only living relative. He had the papers to prove it.

Suddenly there was a loud steady beep. Black Cat stood back as doctors rushed in. Crow had flat-lined. Black Cat gasped, as did the old man. They got him stabilized but then informed them that he had gone into a coma. Black Cat was in tears. She knew she didn't know him very well but they had been teammates for awhile now. As she went to console the old man she got a very alarming distress call from Dragoness. That is why she is late, something is happening to her. Black Cat said her peace and dashed out of the hospital.

-----

Lou Kahn laughed as the power exploded. Suddenly something felt different and he was no longer laughing. The explosion sent him flying backwards and landing on his back. Lou looked up to see a figure stepping out of the green glowing explosions. He gasped he couldn't believe it. The pieces hadn't given him power instead they caused the rebirth of the White Tiger.

Predator looked in awe as a figure, all clad in white from head to toe, wearing a glowing green tiger amulet around his neck. Thunder and Lightening advanced on him. In shocking speed and agility the White Tiger was on them before they even had a chance. In a mater of minutes White Tiger had them laying unconscious on the floor, he then turned and faced Lou Kahn.

"What? how?" Lou said getting to his feet.

"Real easy Lou. Before the explosion took me and your father out, I sent the power of the tiger into the four Sons. Placed on it was a curse that if anyone tried to merge the pieces, instead of granting powers, it would bring me back. I tell you, I am so glad to be back. I am a tad bitter about spending time in the unknown limbo. Now to finish business," White Tiger said.

Before Lou could get any blasts off, White Tiger was in the air and by Lou's side. Predator finally got his strength and made his way to the Sons as White Tiger battled Lou Kahn. It wasn't long before he had all of them out of the chains and on the floor. Predator jumped as he heard a loud rumbling. He turned and looked over his shoulder.

Lou had managed to push White Tiger back. "This is far from over Tiger. We shall meet again." With that Lou blasted the ground and in a puff of smoke, Lou and all the members of the Storm Clan had disappeared. White Tiger got up and came over to the Predator and the Sons. He pointed the amulet at the Sons and a green blast shot out hitting each of them closing their chest wounds and healing them.

After a few hours of catching up and talking they were all at the Hong Kong airport ready to board their jets. "Are you sure you don't want to come back and join my little team of heroes? We could use your help," Predator asked White Tiger.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I am going to head back to New York with Lin and Lotus. I feel my destiny lies there." White Tiger said shaking Predator's hand and heading off with Lin and Lotus.

Predator walked over to his brother. "It's so nice to see you again. I thought you were dead?"

"So did I. After that last battle I woke some time later near death within Department H. I think they staged my actual dead body. I managed to escape and was wondering still near death when the Sons of the White Tiger found me. They took me in and help me heal both physically and spiritually. I'm a new and different man," Lionel said.

"I'm so glad to hear that. I'm just glad I was able to find you in time," Madison said.

"Yes, thanks for coming to my rescue. I just wish we had more time," Lionel said.

"But we do, you can come back with me. You can meet my wife and nephew to be," Predator pleaded.

"Sorry brother, but I just can't. I'm going to head back to California with Rob. I just have a lot of things I need to tend to. I swear though, I'll be in touch. I don't want this to be the end, we'll catch up soon, I promise," Lionel said as he hugged the Predator and headed off with Rob. Predator felt a ping of sadness as he boarded the jet. He just knew his wife was going to say "told you so". In the long run though, his brother was family and he had to go to his defense no matter what. He was right wasn't he?

-----

Black Cat landed at the precise location where Dragoness had sent up the distress call. She looked everywhere, but there was no sign of Dragoness. She could tell there had been a big battle, but that was it. Black Cat suddenly froze, lying in the middle of the street was Dragoness's face mask, smoking. Someone had taken Dragoness, but who and where?

-----

John Giles sat in the room looking over Black Crow. Suddenly a spirit appeared out of nowhere. John jumped up.

"John, it is I Crow of Black. Please shut the machines off. Jesse must now make the journey on his own with no help," the spirit said.

"What are you talking about. Without the machines, he will be on his own. His chance of living will decrease," John pleaded.

"He is taking the quest of self-discovery. You know as well as I do that he must do this completely on his own. Weather he lives is entirely up to him and him alone," Crow of Black said and then disappeared.

John knew what he had to do but hated it. John got up and went to tell the doctors to pull the plug on the Black Crow.

-----

"Hey Cat, I'm back. I just got into town and thought I would touch base before going home. Anything new?" Predator asked and the black Cat turned around and looked at his banged and torn up outfit.

"What's new? Well, while you took off solo, Black Crow is in a coma fighting for his life and the Dragoness has been kidnapped," Black Cat shouted with tears in her eyes.

" I'm sorry, I had some business to tend to out of town. I had to go," Predator explained.

"I'm sorry too. From the looks of it you haven't fared to well either. I am just on edge. We have to do something Predator and fast. Or this could spell the end of our little Wild Pack," Black Cat said as she threw Dragoness's mask at the Predator.

**Next: Issue #6 – Family Matters – Part Three**


	7. Family Matters Part Three

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #6 – Family Matters – Part Three**

"What do you mean he isn't here?" Predator asked the doctor.

"Just what I said, he is no longer here. A legal guardian of Black Crow came in and pulled the plug. He then took him to the privacy of his own home for his recovery or last moments, depending on what happens," the doctor said.

"How could you allow that?" Black Cat asked.

"We had no say in the matter, he was within his legal rights," the doctor answered.

"Can you tell us where he took him too?" Predator asked.

"Sorry I can't. The man paid in cash for hospital expenses and then left with no forwarding address. He did ask me to give this note to Black Cat if she were to return," the doctor said handing the letter to Black Cat.

"Thank you doctor," Black Cat said as she left the hospital with Predator right behind her.

Black Cat opened the letter and began to read:

"Dear Black Cat and members of Wild Pack,

I regret to tell you that as to the request of Black Crow's grandfather's spirit, I have pulled the plugs. In order to heal and survive, Black Crow must now go on a spiritual journey. It is a journey he must do on his own, so I have removed him from the public and taken him home. I wish I could tell you were that is, but for now I must keep that a secret. In the event of his passing or survival, I will be in touch either way. Thank you for your concern, the House of Crow."

"I feel like this is all my fault. If I hadn't run off Dragoness would still be here and Black Crow would not be hanging on his deathbed," Predator swore.

"Too late to cry about it now hon. You had to go after your brother, we can't blame you for that. Next time, trust in us enough to let us help or key us in okay?" Black Cat said.

"I know, sometimes I forget I'm part of a team again. We'll just have to pray and hope Black Crow will come back to us," Predator said.

"Yes, and now we have to figure out how we're going to find out what happened to Dragoness," Black Cat said.

"Well, lucky for us, we have these alert devices I made for all of us. Since she sent you a signal, give me yours and I can run a scan and see if I can get a location on her," Predator said as Black Cat handed it to him.

"Now what?" Black Cat asked.

"Follow me, I still have the jet I borrowed from a friend. I imagine she won't mind if I return it a little later than planned," Predator said as he dashed off leading Black Cat to the airport.

After a few minutes they arrived at the airport and boarded the jet. Predator hooked up Black Cat's device to the computer's system and started doing a scan.

"I don't believe this," Predator exclaimed.

"What is it?" Black Cat asked.

"Well if this is correct, Dragoness is in Madripoor," Predator said.

----

John Giles had securely gotten Black Crow back to the mansion and into his bed. He sat there watching Black Crow barely breathing. He hated this but he knew that this fight was something he would have to do on his own. He didn't know what he would do without him, without Jesse Crow.

Just as John was getting up to recheck all the IVs he saw Black Crow move. He ran to the bedside but he wasn't stirring. Did he just imagine it? As he watched Black Crow began to glow. John watched in awe as he saw Black Crow shift and transform back into the form of Jesse Crow. John stared at the still, but slightly breathing body of Jesse and wondered if this was a good sign or a bad sign. What was going on?

"What happened?" Jesse asked his grandfather's spirit.

"You have agreed to take the journey. That means the journey must be completed by you Jesse not the Black Crow," Crow of Black told him.

"Well, how will I defend myself without my powers?" Jesse asked.

"You must look within yourself and find the power there," Jesse's grandfather said as he disappeared.

Jesse looked all around him and he was alone. There was nothing in sight besides swirling smoke and a doorway leading into his destination. Jesse wasn't so sure now about all this. Before he thought he was going to have the power of the Black Crow, but now he had to do this as plain old Jesse. Jesse took in a deep breath and walked through the doorway.

Suddenly he found himself on flat grassland with a thick set of woods off to the side. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go now. He began to walk slowly when he heard a loud rumble. He turned around and saw a pack of wolves and a tribe of warriors riding towards him. He wasn't sure if they were friend or foe until an arrow came flying past him. He knew deep down that he should stand and fight, but instead he ran.

Deep into the woods Jesse had found himself. He knew the wolves would be upon him soon. He looked around with no where to go, but up. Jesse quickly climbed a tree just as the pack of wolves surrounded the base. Jesse had no idea what he was going to do now, especially now that the tribe of warriors had just approached raising their bows and axes.

----

Tamara opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on the floor of a giant office. Her head was cloudy. She realized she was in full costume, minus her facemask. She was trying to remember what had happened to her. One minute she was off flying and then she was attacked. She was able to get out a distress to Black Cat before she blacked out. She sat up and saw a desk with a huge chair behind it. The chair was turned so she couldn't see who was sitting in it. Slowly the chair turned around.

"Father!" Tamara screamed.

"Ah, Tamara, you finally awaken," the man said as he stood up from his chair and approached her.

Tamara gasped in fear as her father approached her. The man made the Kingpin look small. His eyes alone invoked fear into the soul. Her father was very powerful and greatly feared. That was part of the reason she had faked her death and disappeared so long ago. Even her time with the Mutant Liberation Front helped hide her even further. Somehow he had found her, and it could mean nothing good. She quickly called forth her powers.

"What?" Tamara stuttered when nothing happened.

"Oh, come on now, my dear Tamara. You dare try and strike against your father?" Jackson Steel laughed.

"I don't understand. Why can't I summon my powers?" Tamara asked herself.

"You forget your own brother too?" Another man, her age, said.

"Tyler?" She asked looking his way.

Tamara had almost forgotten about her brother Tyler. He had the ability to dampen energy power. Then it hit her like a sludge hammer. She quickly looked around and saw that all five of them were standing there in the office. All five of her other sextuplet siblings. Her gaze went from Tyler to Tonia, then Timoth, then Tucker and lastly Tallon. Her mother had given birth to six of them, three boys and three girls.

"What a nice family reunion we have here," Jackson said.

"All these years I had thought you dead, and I mourned the loss of you and the plans that I had for you and your siblings. We still made due, but without you we were never able to take total control of this city and surrounding land. But now, it can all change," Jackson finished.

"How did you find me?" Tamara asked.

"That doesn't really matter. I got a phone call tipping me off to your location. The new last name through me off but I was able to confirm that you were indeed alive, so I sent your siblings to bring you home," Jackson answered.

"What do you want from me?" Tamara shouted.

"I want you to join your siblings. With the power of the Steel Six, we can take over this whole city," Jackson bellowed.

"I will not be a part of this," Tamara said jumping up and making a dash for the door.

"Tonia, stop her," Jackson shouted at his daughter.

The girl named Tonia looked over at the lamp. She pointed her finger at it and called forth her powers. The light bulb exploded as she took control over the electricity and sent it flying out of the lamp base and directly at Tamara, electrocuting her. With Tamara on the ground in pain, Tyler snapped his fingers at the stream of electricity and it vanished. Tamara moaned in pain.

"Alert! Alert!" Came a sound over the speakers.

"Take her to the holding cell. Looks like we got some company," Jackson Steel shouted as he quickly walked to a computer screen on his desk.

----

The jet had landed and Predator and Black Cat had made their way to the mansion. Predator had followed the trace to this mansion. Dragoness was somewhere inside this place. They stood on the side of the building trying to decide their best course of action. Suddenly they heard the alarms going off all over the mansion.

"Well, mister stud. Looks like you got us here undetected," Black Cat chuckled.

"No time to dwell on that now. I want you to slide into the hole I will blow here in the wall. While you are doing that I will make a lot of commotion on the roof to try and divert attention to me. This way you can fallow the signal and find Dragoness," Predator said as he blew a hole in the wall and then quickly scales the mansion to the roof causing another random explosion.

"Will do boss man," Black Cat said as she dived into the hole and found herself falling down into some kind of trash shoot.

Predator made it to the roof. He looked around and didn't see a soul. He quickly found a latch that led from the roof and into the mansion. As he was about to open it he heard a noise from behind him. He turned around to see three figures in blue body suits, two men and a woman. Predator shot off a dozen blasts at the three figures.

One of the guys, Timoth, called forth his powers and didn't move. A series of the energy blasts hit him directly in the chest and vanished. Timoth glowed for a second and then the blasts reemerged from his chest and were on their way back towards Predator. The girl, Tonia, waved her hands and almost all of the energy blasts slowed down and did a U-turn right back at Predator. The last guy, Tucker, transformed into a living energy being allowing the blasts to pass through him harmlessly, and then shifted back to human form.

Predator couldn't believe his eyes; it looked like this wasn't going to be easy. Then it donned on him that all of his blasts were now heading back towards him. Predator ignited his boot jets to give him a boost up and flipped over the blasts. He came back down on his feet and stared at the three figures. He took a mental note that energy based weapons would be out of the question with these three.

Predator shot a dozen pellets at their feet causing a few mini explosions. Smoke erupted and engulfed the three beings. He hopped the gas would distract them enough to let him slip into the mansion. He made it to the hatch and went down and into the mansion. He found himself in a hallway leading two directions. He quickly blasted the latch to weld it shut so the three couldn't come down too easily. He then saw that a group of guards were coming down both ends.

"Finally, non-powered opponents," Predator said as he flew into battle.

In a matter of moments he had taken out his attackers and made his way down the hallway. As he was nearing a stairway he smelled a cigar and heard a small noise coming from behind two large doors. Predator ran up to the door and cracked it open to peer inside. Suddenly a large hand grabbed him by the face and yanked him inside.

----

"Who are you?" The chief of the warriors shouted at Jesse.

Jesse was on the ground, clothes torn and blood running from his nose. He hadn't put up too much of a fight. It had seemed like hours that this chief had been beating him and asking who he was.

"I told you, I am Jesse," Jesse spat.

"No, you are a coward. You ran from your warriors and now you deny who you are," the chief said.

"I don't know what more you want from me," Jesse said.

"Nothing more than you want from yourself, Jesse Crow," the chief laughed.

"He is useless, let the wolves have him. The rest of us must go and finish off the rest of the Navajo village over there. The rest of his people," the chief laughed as the warriors ran off chanting.

Jesse sat there barely able to move. He watched as they went to burn down his village and kill his people. He could hear the wolves approaching. The chief's words echoed in his mind. Who am I? What do I want from me? As his village burned and the wolves were ready to pounce on him it all came clear. He suddenly drew on a power from deep within himself. He began to surge when the wolves were all on top of him.

"I am Jesse Crow! Descendent of Crow of Black! I am a Navajo Warrior! I am the Black Crow! I am a HERO!" Jesse screamed as he threw all the wolves off of him and stood up.

Jesse felt the power flowing within him. He felt an aura around him that he had never felt before. He wasn't in costume, but he was taller and muscular. He faced the growling wolves and held out his hand.

"Stop!" Jesse "Black" Crow commanded.

The wolves sniffed and then ran off in opposite directions. Jesse then waved his hand and a spear appeared and he ran after the chief and his warriors. In a matter of moments he had used his strength, courage and spear to take out all of the warriors. He then turned to face the last, the chief.

"I see you have found yourself," the chief said.

"Find this!" Jesse "Black" Crow shouted as he hurled the spear at the chief.

The chief caught it in mid-air and broke it in two. The chief ran at him with a piece of the spear in each hand. Jesse "Black" Crow closed his eyes and became one with his ancestors. The wind began to blow, and with eyes still closed, punched out with his fist. He then opened his eyes to see the chief lying on the ground completely still.

Suddenly the wind began to blow and caused the air to swirl all about him. Jesse "Black" Crow finally found himself standing on a plane of clouds and smoke. His grandfather was standing in front of him. Crow of Black approached him. Jesse "Black" Crow bowed his head.

"You have done well my son. You have earned to go where you are now needed," Crow of Black said.

"I can go back home to Bergsville?" Jesse 'Black" Crow asked.

"No," Crow of Black said as he pointed a spear at Jesse and fired a blast of light at him.

"What?" Jesse exclaimed as he was engulfed in the light and disappeared from sight.

"What was that?" John Giles shouted aloud as he heard a noise.

John ran into the room where Jesse laid still. Suddenly Jesse's body jerked and then faded from sight. John stared at the empty bed.

"NO!" John screamed as he dropped to his knees and cried.

----

Black Cat finally came out of the shoot and landed in a basement area. She quickly looked around and saw no one. She began to walk carefully down the passage and stopped when she heard a noise to her left. She moved quickly and saw a cell with someone in it and a man guarding it. Black Cat got closer and saw the girl laying face down in the cell wore the costume of Dragoness.

"You know it's bad luck to cross a black cat," Black Cat said as she jumped out and grabbed the man's head and pounding it into her knee knocking him out.

"Dragoness, we are here to save you," Black cat said as she through Dragoness's facemask into the cell.

Dragoness looked up and stared in silence as she picked up the mask realizing her mistake.

"Tamara?" Black Cat asked.

Before Tamara could reply Black Cat screamed out as she dropped to the ground. A woman removed her hand from Black Cat's back and then picked her up off the ground by her hair. She then punched her, sending her flying feet backwards and into the wall. Black Cat looked up at the figure.

"Tallon, what did you do to her?" Screamed Tamara.

"Nothing really. I just touched her and drained some of her life energy, which increased my strength. I wonder what would happen if I touched her and drained her till there was nothing left?" Tallon laughed as she walked towards the weak Black Cat.

"Um, Tallon, you forgot one thing. She knocked out the only person keeping me at bay," Tamara said as she finally felt her power from within.

Dragoness placed her mask back on and called forth her powers. Bioelectricity shot out in the form of her dragon's fire. The blast hit Tallon and sent her shocking back into the wall unconscious. She then pointed her fingers at the lock and sent out a series of stinger blasts to blow open the cell. She ran over to Black Cat and helped her up.

"How did you know my name? My identity is exposed," Dragoness cried.

"Tamara don't worry. I'll keep your secret. In turn, I will show you who I am. You will see, this might make things easier for both of us," Black Cat said taking off her mask.

"Felicia? My roommate is the Black Cat?" Tamara laughed.

"Who would have thought huh?" Felicia laughed too.

"Well I promise to keep your secret too," Tamara promised.

"Good. So who are these people who have kidnapped you?" Black Cat asked as she put her mask back on.

"Well, since we are secret sisters, I will tell you everything. This is the first time I have ever trusted someone before. My father's name is Jackson Steel. He was a low-key crime boss here in this city. He met my mother and fell in love with her on first sight. My mother soon got pregnant and had to be protected. One night one of my father's rivals set a detonator in their house. She survived the blast but was severely electrocuted. By a miracle she lived but was very weak till she went into labor a few months later.

"The doctors told my father that due to a mutant gene and the electrocution, it caused the fetus to split into six. My mother gave birth to sextuplets, three boys and three girls. There was no way that the doctors were going to be able to successfully deliver all six babies alive and healthy. Suddenly, energy passed from our mother into all six of us and we all lived, but our mother died.

"Our father raised us and as we got older noticed we all had a form of bio-electric powers. My brother Tyler dampens power, my sister Tonia controls it, my brother Timoth absorbs and redirects it, my brother Tucker becomes it, my sister Tallon drains it into her and I generate it. My father started to call us the Steel Six and wanted us to grow up as his power army to take over the city. They couldn't do it without me. Since I generate it, I could fully power the other five. It is not what I wanted.

"During a test battle, I caused an explosion that made it look like I was killed. I ran off to escape my father and my evil siblings. I then met a man named Strifye, who changed my name from Steel to Kurtz and took me in. I joined his Mutant Liberation Front. I believed we were doing the good cause. Many years later I realized it was wrong, and he was no better than my father had been. After the group had disbanded, I headed off to start over, this time as a good guy. That's when I ended up in Bergsville," Dragoness concluded.

"Well you are now one of the good guys," Black Cat said as she gave Dragoness a big hug. "Now let's go find Predator."

Dragoness knowing the mansion well led the way. They heard a big commotion and headed that way. They finally came to Dragoness's father's giant office. When they opened the door, they saw Tucker, Timoth and Tonia standing off to the side watching a great battle. Both Black Cat and Dragoness gasped at what they saw. Jackson Steel was towering over Predator. Predator was slouched on the floor with his cape torn off; whole left arm armor torn off and right boot ripped off. There were also tears and dents all over his armor and blood everywhere.

"Predator, no!" Screamed Dragoness.

"Oh how lovely for you to join us. I have a battle to finish here, could you three please take care of these two?" Jackson said.

Dragoness quickly called forth her dragon's breath and blasted it at her three siblings. Timoth stepped in front and Tonia directed all the energy right at him. Timoth absorbed it all and began to glow. Tucker turned into energy and flew at Black Cat and Dragoness and passed through them causing Black Cat's grappling hook to blow up and Dragoness's flying wings to blow up too. Tonia then nodded and Timoth released all the energy. As it flew back at the two girls, Tonia took control of it. The energy split in two, one half hit the back wall causing it to explode revealing the outside, while the other half hit Black Cat and Dragoness and lifted them up and out of the hole and into the outside air.

The two girls started falling to the ground at a rapid speed. Both screamed knowing that there was no way to stop their falls. Suddenly, bioelectricity emerged from Dragoness's back creating dragon-like wings. Dragoness was in shock, but quickly took hold of Black Cat and found herself flying back to the mansion.

Dragoness made it back inside the room but collapsed from the power drain. Black Cat helped her up as she saw the three siblings coming at them and Jackson about to crush the life out of Predator. Suddenly, a giant bolt of lightening struck between Predator and Jackson, sending them apart. When the smoke cleared the full costumed form of Black Crow was there.

"Black Crow? Your alive!" Black Cat screamed.

"Well grandfather, I guess this is what you meant by where I was needed," Black Crow said.

The three siblings came at Black Crow. Black Crow quickly waved his arms and feather knives flew from his fingers and hit all three directly in the chest. They dropped to the ground, unable to move. He then turned and faced Jackson. He threw his feather knives at him. They bounced off his chest, with no effect at all.

"Silly bird, it takes a lot to penetrate my skin," Jackson said as he punched Black Crow sending him backwards.

Black Crow jumped up and closed his eyes. Fog began to appear, and then the wind began to blow. Suddenly Jackson was on his knees gasping for air. The wind had moved the fog into his mouth and nose causing him to chock. Black Crow then summoned all his strength and kicked Jackson in the face sending him out the hole in the wall.

Black Crow then closed his eyes and called out his grandfather's name. Crow of Black appeared and granted him his one reward for winning his journey. The spirit clapped his hands and a thick fog surrounded them all. When it cleared, the Wild Pack found themselves on a rooftop in Bergsville.

"What the?" Black Cat said.

"In order to come to the world of the living I had to pass a test, I passed and was allowed one reward. My grandfather brought us home and made that man and his group forget that any of us were there, or who we were," Black Crow said.

"It's good to have you back," Predator whispered as Black Crow helped the beaten man up. "So who were those people?" Predator got out.

"A part of my past, also best forgotten," Dragoness coughed.

Soon the team talked and headed their own separate ways, agreeing to meet in a few days after they had time to recuperate. Black Crow returned to his home and to a very happy John Giles. They sat and he told him everything. Black Cat and Dragoness changed clothes and walked into their apartment. Felicia talked a little with her mom but Lydia said she had to go. She waved her hand, with a giant ring on it, at the girls and promised she wanted to spend more time as her daughter. Felicia walked her out and then came back an hour later after taking her mom to the airport.

Tamara gave Felicia a hug and said they could talk more later, but she had to get to bed. As she headed into her room, she thought she saw something glimmer on Felicia's hand. Tamara shook her head and decided she just needed to sleep and put her family behind her.

Predator walked through the front door. He threw off what was left of his costume. He was so tired and so sore. All he wanted now was to be with his wife and soon to be born child. He called out to Mindy over and over but got now response. He soon walked into the kitchen and found a note addressed to him from Mindy.

"Dearest Love,

I can no longer take the lies and you running off to be a hero again. I understand about your brother so I waited last night. You never came home, and then I noticed you took off somewhere again without notice. I am done. I am leaving you. I have gone to my parents, do not call me.

Love always,

Mindy"

Predator dropped the note, and with tears in his eyes he grabbed what was left of his costume and limped into his office.

**Next: Issue #7 – Finding the Holiday Spirits – Part One **


	8. Finding the Holiday Spirits Part One

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #7 – Finding the Holiday Spirits – Part One**

Madison sat in front of the television set. He had no life in him. He got up, went to work and then came home. Ever since his wife left him and wouldn't return his calls he had no motivation. He hadn't even put on the Predator suit since the night he found the note. He put it in his room and there it would stay, well what was left of it since the big battle with Steel. He had sworn never to pick it up again. That suit had almost cost him his life and now his family.

Luckily the Wild Pack alarm hadn't gone off. He didn't know what he would tell the others when they needed him and he wouldn't come. They would have to understand he had a family. Then again he wondered, maybe they have families too. He didn't know what to do anymore. Was there a way to have a family and be a hero too? He switched the channel and watched a later re-showing of "Getting Down With Felicia".

As he watched he thought she seemed different. She wasn't as witty and she seemed very snotty. From what he read in the local paper was ratings were starting to drop and was in danger of cancellation. Madison flipped off the TV and went to the kitchen for a snack. As he was getting the items from the fridge the phone rang.

"Hello?" He said into the phone.

"Now, my daughter hasn't said why she left you, but I still believe you're a good man," Mindy's father's voice boomed through the receiver.

"Ok, what do you want? Something wrong with Mindy?" Madison feared the worst.

"Actually, I called cause your wife has gone into labor. You need to get here as fast as you can," He said.

"I'm on my way," Madison said as he hung up the phone.

Madison suddenly came to life. His child was finally coming. He limped as fast as he could to get his things together. Soon he was in his car heading to Harrisburg. On his whole drive down there, all he could think about was being with his family again.

----

"You're not listening to me, Felicia. If you don't wise up your show is going to be cancelled," Felicia's agent was telling her.

"No, you are not listening to me. I'm the star of the show. It's my show that's doing awesome in the ratings and test markets. I'm the one that's about to go from local to statewide. After that I'll be put into other states and eventually nation wide. I'm the star and things go the way I say they go," Felicia yelled.

"What's with this attitude? Are you trying to get your show taken off the air?" Her agent questioned.

"I have to go. You tell them I want a raise and that the format of the show will be how I've outlined it or I walk," Felicia yelled as she stormed out of the room.

Felicia walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. She was feeling a little lightheaded. She looked at her face and noticed it was kind of pudgy and spotty. She quickly touched her ring her mother had given her and rubbed it. In a few moments she calmed down and felt better and looked better. She had to quit overdoing it. She decided she needed to make one more stop before she headed back to the apartment. She walked out of the bathroom and stepped out the front of the studio and into her personal limousine. She gave the driver the address and they headed out.

----

"Sir haven't you had enough?" John Giles asked.

"No, I must have myself in top condition. I've entered into a new stage in my life. I must make sure I'm strong and ready for the next time," Black Crow said.

In a private section of the mansion was a giant work out room where Black Crow practiced and worked out. Ever since he passed his inner test and was given a second chance on life he was determined to not let his ancestors or his team down. He had healed and was ready to get back to action. Plus, now that he had reached his true inner potential, he had to practice and hone his new abilities. He stopped and turned to John, who was holding his wheel chair.

"Sir, you are expected back at the shop. Tamara has been worried about you and wondering where you could have gone," John said.

"I know, we should go," Black Crow said.

Black Crow revoked his powers and in a mist of power he shifted form and appeared in his wheelchair as Jesse Crow. He pushed the controls and rolled out of the training room with John behind him.

"So what goes now?" John asked.

"Well, Predator was banged up pretty good and had his costume almost completely totaled. He said he needed time to heal and decide what to do. He's also dealing with some personal stuff. Sometimes I wish we could trust each other enough to reveal our secret identities. I think that might help each other out and understand, especially with all the personal life things that can go on and conflict. One thing I've learned is that we're the same person, in or out of the costume," Jesse said.

"I agree sir. Not many people are ready for that. Revealing a secret identity is opening up a very personal side of them. Some are not ready to let others in on that level," John said.

"I can see that. Well other than that we just have a few other things going on. Black Cat hasn't responded to any signals. I know they have only been for meetings and nothing major, but like I said, personal lives keeping us from responding can be dangerous to this team," Jesse said.

"You think something has happened to her?" John asked.

"No, I don't think so. Dragoness has assured me that she knows Black Cat is okay, but doesn't know why she isn't responding," Jesse said.

"Speaking of, what about her? How's she doing?" John asked.

"You know her, she won't talk to me. I don't know what really went down with her and that group that kidnapped her but I can sense it eating at her inner soul," Jesse said.

"Well never fear. You were all drawn together for a reason and you'll all pull together whenever you're needed. There's a great evil spirit hovering over this city and you're its defenders," John said.

"I know, I know. All we have is Dragoness's source who found a file with those three girl's names and the two men who attacked my shop. Force Job Agency hired them all. The file even said that the girls had another job pending and the one guy was to be terminated. Then at the prison, the girls were freed and the sliding guy was murdered. Now the file didn't list who paid for the contract, it was listed somewhere else," Jesse said.

"So what are you thinking?" John asked.

"Well, from what Predator told me, nothing much was found in the office he broke into. All he knew was that the land my shop and the bakery sat on were individually owned. Both teams that burned down the bakery and attacked my store were from the Agency. I don't think that's a coincidence. Predator and me both felt that our next step is to investigate the Job Agency. We can't go pointing at anything else until we get a look at what's all going on in there," Jesse said.

"Well let's get you to the shop and we can plan that later," John said and Jesse nodded.

----

Tamara sat behind the counter. The morning had been busy but now it had slowed down. Which was good because she had a lot on her mind. She still couldn't believe how her father had found her. The only people that knew she was here were her teammates, her roommate and her job. Then she had a sudden flash of when she got fired from Force Job Agency. Could it be that I was on to something I wasn't supposed to and they set this up? If so, now more than ever they would have to be careful. Something was up with the Agency but Tamara had a feeling that they were the lower end and that someone or something much bigger was in control.

She knew for now that her family's memories were erased thanks to Black Crow's grandfather's spirit. But how long would that last? She knew that someday she would have to face them again, otherwise they would keep coming for her. If only someday she could get rid of her father and break his hold over her siblings. Well at least she did get something out of this ordeal, a new friend.

She couldn't believe that her roommate and teammate were both the same persons. Felicia had even sworn to keep her identity secret from the others. This had made them grow closer and bond. Something had changed in her though not too long after Felicia's mother left. Felicia acted like she didn't even know Tamara and when she mentioned why she hadn't responded to the call she didn't know what she was talking about.

So Tamara decided for now not to bring up the team in front of her until she figure out what's wrong with Felicia. Especially since she doesn't seem to mention anything about the team or Tamara as Dragoness. Not only that but she seemed to be distancing herself from her a little and on edge with her job. She used to love it and now it seemed like she was trying to destroy it. For now Tamara decided to let it go and avoid her for now. She had more important things to deal with.

Jesse was coming back today. He had left on some emergency and was finally coming back. She didn't know where he had gone but she did now that she had missed him. With the past events, she had decided to take a chance on life. Today she was going to ask Jesse out on a date. If he said yes, great, if he said no, no harm done. She would make her move today.

"Oh!" Tamara exclaimed as the door chime startled her.

"Hi, Tamara, thanks for watching the store while I was away," Jesse said coming through the door with John behind him.

"Oh no problem. So glad to have you back. I was worried," Tamara said as she gave him a quick hug.

Jesse and Tamara talked about the store since he had been gone. They talked and talked about business. Tamara just waited to get her courage and then she would pop her question. It would just be a matter of time. She just had to wait for the perfect moment.

----

"Where is she? Where's my wife?" Madison said limping into the hospital.

"Calm down son, she's in the delivery room. There are some complications," Mindy's father said walking up to him.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Madison blurted out.

"The doctors don't know. She went into early labor and the baby was born barely breathing. The baby's on life support right now. They're trying to get the lungs strong enough to work on their own. The baby's on a special machine, after a few hours they're going to shut the machines off and see if the baby can breath on it's own," Mindy's father said.

"I can't believe this. Where's Mindy? How is she?" Madison asked.

"I don't know how to say this. While giving birth she has slipped into a comma," he said breaking into tears, "they say they're registering very low brain activity. We, you must decide whether to keep her on the machines or not."

Madison collapsed into a near by chair and began to cry. He shook his head in disbelief. He was on the verge of losing his wife and newborn child. There had to be some way to save them, to save their souls from leaving him. As he sat there a thought came to him. He stood up and looked at his father-in-law.

"I need to be alone with my wife is that okay?" Madison said.

"Sure son," he said as he led him to Mindy's room.

Madison shut the door and sat by Mindy's bedside while Mindy's parents sat in the waiting room. He held her hand and then looked at his wristwatch. He pressed a button to signal Black Crow to call him. He knew this was a long shot but he had to try, if not for himself, then for his wife and child. After a few moments, his special cell phone rang and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Predator? Your signal for need went off and it flashed a number? What's going on?" Black Crow asked.

"Sorry, we couldn't meet in person. I need to know if you, with your new abilities, can help save the souls of two people?" Madison asked.

"Who are they?" Black Crow asked.

"I can't tell you how they're connected to me, but I can give you what hospital they are in and what rooms they're in," Madison said.

"I wish you could be more open with me, but yes I'll try," Black Crow said and then hung up the phone, as did Madison.

----

Felicia was walking down the street. She was pissed at the woman who told her she couldn't do things her way. Felicia then took a deep breath and calmed herself. If she couldn't change the format of the show and it went off the air it would still serve her purpose. Keeping the job wasn't important. The limo driver had dropped her off here because she didn't want anyone knowing where she was going. Just as she was nearing the corner she would turn on she stopped.

She found herself looking into a store called "Arts of the Crow". It wasn't the shop that had made her stop; it was who was inside. Through the window she saw her stupid roommate being awkward in front of some man in a wheelchair. As she looked closer she realized that this must be the man she was babbling about the other day on how much she wanted to ask him out. Maybe she should go in and help.

The door chimed and Tamara and Jesse stopped and looked at who had come into the door. Felicia walked up near Jesse and Tamara. Felicia quickly noticed they way Jesse was looking at her. She immediately knew how interesting this would be.

"Hi, Tamara, I didn't realize this was where you worked," Felicia said.

"Yes, I told you that before," Tamara said puzzled.

"You know her?" Jesse asked Tamara as he remembered the first and last time he saw Felicia and had made a fool of himself.

"Yes, I'm sorry. This is my roommate, Felicia Hardy," Tamara started to say.

"That's right! The star of Getting Down with Felicia. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Jesse Crow, owner of this shop," Jesse said shaking her hand.

"Really! Tamara you never told me about your boss and how good looking he is," Felicia said flirting with Jesse.

Tamara giggled nervously as she didn't understand what Felicia was doing. She knew how much Tamara liked Jesse and here she was flirting with him. Tamara had to calm herself down and not let her anger get the best of her. It was just innocent flirting, Felicia would never do something like this to her. They had become to close of friends, so she thought.

"Well, I don't want to keep you I have a very important errand to run. Before I go, Jesse are you free tomorrow night? I was wondering if maybe we could do dinner and a movie?" Felicia said seductively.

"Wow, yes I'm free. Um I mean, sure tomorrow night would be fine. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at seven?" Jesse asked drooling. He couldn't believe that Felicia had asked her out.

"Great, see you then. Later, Tamara," Felicia said as she blew a kiss to Jesse and went out the door.

Suddenly Jesse looked down at his watch and then moved over to the phone and dialed a number. Tamara watched in shock. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She didn't understand why Felicia would do this to her. What was wrong with her? Tamara's face began to flush as she began to get very angry. Electricity began to crackle around her eyes. She quickly realized where she was and clamed herself real fast. She then turned to see Jesse rolling up to her.

"Tamara, I hate to run but an emergency has come up and I need to go. Would you mind running the shop and closing it for me?" Jesse asked as Tamara nodded.

Jesse rolled out of the store and got into his car. He told John to drive home but he was taking a quick trip. Jesse called forth his powers and in a flash Black Crow was now sitting in the spot once occupied by Jesse. Black Crow moved back the sunroof and then shifted to a lightening bolt and blasted off to Harrisburg, PA.

Tamara watched Jesse leave and began to cry. Why would Felicia do this to her. Something wasn't right with her. She had this feeling, ever since she returned from taking her mother home that she wasn't herself. In anger Tamara dialed Felicia's cell phone. She had a hunch and if it panned out then she would have to do something. If it failed, then she was going to kick Felicia's but for steeling her man.

"Hello?" Came Felicia's voice.

"Felicia? What the hell was that about? Why did you ask him out when you knew I liked him?" Tamara yelled.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry. I figured since you were never going to get around to doing it I thought I better take a shot. Time for you to toughen up," Felicia laughed.

Tamara sat in silence, anger building. It was time to settle this woman stile. She hit her wristwatch to signal Black Cat to meet Dragoness here atop the building. As Tamara sat in silence she then snapped out of her anger. Something wasn't right.

"Are you still there Tamara or are you crying?" Felicia asked.

"Um, I'm here. Felicia, are you wearing your watch? The one you always wear?" Tamara asked.

"Yes I am, what of it? Going to accuse me of steeling that too?" Felicia laughed.

"Is it beeping. Is it signaling you to meet someone?" Tamara asked in a panic.

"What the hell are you talking about? Meet someone? The watch just tells me what time it is. Are you losing it? I don't have time for this. I need to go buy a dress for my date tomorrow. Later," Felicia said hanging up.

Tamara stared at the phone and then hung it up. Something was definitely not right. Tamara ran over to the computer and got on line. She did a trace for Lydia Hardy and found the phone number and she dialed it. After a few minutes she got a message saying she was out visiting her daughter and to leave a message. Something was definitely not right. Tamara decided she needed to go pay Lydia a visit. Tamara wrote down the address of Lydia's mom's home in Boston.

Tamara closed up shop and went to the roof of the building. She removed her cloths revealing her green costume underneath. She then pulled out her mask and placed it on. Dragoness was ready to fly. She could hide her costume under her now cause she no longer had mechanical wings to hide. Thanks to the discovery of her powers she could generate bioelectric "dragon wings" which allowed her to fly faster and longer. She called forth her powers and giant blue bioelectric wings sprouted from her back. She grabbed her clothes and took to the air.

After a few hours Dragoness landed in the back yard of Lydia's house. She took off her mask and put her street cloths back on and went around to the front and rang the doorbell. After a few moments she rang it again and then started pounding on the door. Still there was no answer.

"Excuse me, miss. Can I help you?" An older man said coming up behind her.

"Oh sorry, you startled me. Is Lydia home? I'm her niece and was passing through and thought I would stop and surprise her," Tamara lied.

"Oh that's too bad. She would have loved to seen you. I'm Mr. Jones. I live next door. She asked me to keep an eye on her place while she went to visit her daughter in Bergsville," Mr. Jones said.

"Oh she's visiting her daughter Felicia?" Tamara asked.

"Yes. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten back yet. I didn't think she would have been gone for so long. She left and hasn't been back since, not even a phone call to check on her place," Mr. Jones said.

"Oh, well I guess I'll call her there and catch her another time. Thanks for your help, Mr. Jones," Tamara said as she walked away from the front of the house and went around the block.

When she was sure Mr. Jones was gone she changed into costume and went to the back door. Thank goodness Mr. Jones wasn't given a key. He was just told to watch the house not go in it. She got to the back door and zapped the handle with her stinger blast. The door opened and she quickly went in unnoticed. Tamara then stopped in awe when she discovered that the whole inside of the house was trashed and torn apart. Someone had been here before her.

----

Black Crow stood on top of the hospital roof and was on the phone, which was left up here by the Predator. Black Crow was disturbed that he wouldn't be more open with him and see him in person. Black Crow had a suspicion that he was hiding his identity. As Black Crow talked to him on the phone he began to concentrate. Black Crow tried reaching into his inner soul and tapping into his spiritual powers. In an instant Black Crows spirit was hovering high above the hospital.

He could sense the death spirits around the hospital. Reapers and Spirits coming to claim the souls of the mortals that were dying, and are dead in the hospital. He was trying to find the souls of the two Predator wanted to save. This form of his power was new to him and he was having trouble. He knew using this power was not guaranteed and was dangerous.

His grandfather had told him that to mess in the spirit world was not a game. He or anyone in the spirit world could be trapped or tossed over to the other side. A push of force hit him and he found himself back in his regular body form. He picked up the cell and spoke to the Predator on the other end.

"Predator, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. Unless you are willing to share and bare your soul I can't make a connection. I need you to trust me, and in that trust I can find the two souls you are looking for," Black Crow sighed.

"I don't know. I need to think. Please hold on," Madison said as he hung up the phone.

He walked over to his wife and began to cry. He needed to save her but should he reveal his identity? He didn't want to expose himself or allow that kind of hold on himself to others. Suddenly the door behind him swung open as the sky outside thundered and lightening.

"Madison, the machines went off and the baby isn't going to make it. The lungs are not strong enough, I'm afraid that your baby is dying," Mindy's dad cried coming into the room with Mindy's mom.

"Oh no! I need to see the baby," Madison cried and then stopped.

Behind him the monitor next to Mindy flat lined. Madison screamed as Mindy's dad shouted for the doctors. Madison stepped near the window as he watched doctors rushing to the side of Mindy. He couldn't take it. His wife and baby were being taken from him. In a fit of fury he opened the hospital window and shouted out into the storm.

"Crow, I trust you. I need you to help me save my wife and baby. I give you my soul. I let you in. I'm not the Predator I'm Madison Jeffries and I want my family back!" he shouted as the thunder kept the others inside the room from hearing him making them think he was just shouting in sorrowful rage.

As the lightening flashed Madison blacked out and collapsed to the floor. Mindy's parents screamed as more doctors came rushing in to tend to Madison. Mindy's parents began to pray for their families three souls that they were losing. In the wake of the prayer, the storm raged on outside.

**Next: Issue #8 – Finding the Holiday Spirits – Part Two**


	9. Finding the Holiday Spirits Part Two

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #8 – Finding the Holiday Spirits – Part Two**

_**Prologue**_

Dragoness called forth her powers to cause a little crackle of bioelectricity from her eyes. Just enough to light her way but not enough for outsiders to take notice. She had to search the house for clues. She had a feeling something wasn't right with Felicia, her teammate Black Cat. After being rescued by the Black Cat from her evil family they had shared secret identities with each other. This caused them to bond and grow as close as sisters. Then Felicia's mother had come to visit.

When Felicia took her mom to the bus station she came back like a different person. She not only was on the verge of losing her job but also had stolen her one true love. Felicia had become so mean and angry and Tamara had about had it. Then she noticed Felicia not answering the call of the Wild Pack and she was sporting her mother's ring. That's when Tamara knew something was up and had put on her Dragoness persona and flew to pay misses Lydia Hardy a visit. She had suspected that Lydia had done something to her own daughter and decided to find out what.

Only now she is rethinking her plan. She expected to get here and find an evil Lydia or imprisoned Felicia, but instead she found an empty house torn a sunder. There was something more going on and she had to figure out it was. Dragoness made her way upstairs and followed the trail of mess to a storage room. In the room were pictures and documents that called to her gut feelings. Dragoness sat down and started looking through it all. There was a picture of a very young Lydia holding a baby in a hospital bed. Dragoness flipped the picture assuming it must be of Felicia.

Instead of finding what she expected was written something else. On the back of the photo said, "Anastasia". Dragoness was puzzled, was Felicia not her real name? She then looked over and saw a photo crumbled and a smashed frame. She bent over and picked it up and unfolded it. It was a picture of a young Lydia, a man and a little girl that looked like a very young Felicia. She turned the picture over and it read, "Felicia and Walter Hardy with Felicia age 4". Now that was odd, if this picture said Felicia and the other said Anastasia, what was going on? Felicia said she was an only child. Or did she have a sister that had died? Dragoness was about to get up when she saw a couple more torn up documents.

Dragoness pieced them together and looked at them. One was a birth certificate for "Felicia Hardy born to Lydia and Walter Hardy". The other document was just a photocopy, but it was another birth certificate made out three years before Felicia's. This one read, "Anastasia Simpson born to Lydia Simpson and father unknown". Dragoness then looked at a shaded stamp that read, "Released to hospital for adoption". Dragoness stared in awe at the document and the picture. There was more to the story here.

Dragoness searched and found no more clues. These documents were all there proved of the existence of an Anastasia Simpson. It was obvious that the picture belonged to Lydia but someone brought in the copy of the certificate from the outside, probably the person who trashed this house. There was no one else in this house, so where was Lydia and what is the story on Anastasia? Dragoness grabbed the picture and certificates and headed to city hall to get some information.

----

Madison found himself floating above the hospital. He looked like a ghost or spirit or something. He felt terror rise in his heart at the site of dark-like spirits flying in, out and around the hospital. He wasn't sure what was going on. One minute he was in the hospital room crying for the life of his wife and baby, the next he was floating above the hospital. He was about to scream when the semi-spirit of his teammate Black Crow appeared in front of him.

"What is going on Black Crow?" Madison asked.

"Don't fear, you're in the spirit world. Here you can trust me and call me Jesse," Black Crow said revealing his identity too in a bond of spiritual trust.

"I need to get back, my wife and baby are in danger," Madison pleaded.

"I brought you here to save them. All the dark spirits you see are those coming to claim the dead and dying. If we are to save your wife and child, we must defeat their spirits of death," Black Crow said.

"Can we do that?" Madison asked.

"It can be, thanks to the elevation of my powers. Before we go, I believe you might want to arm yourself spiritually," Black Crow instructed Madison.

Madison looked at himself and then closed his eyes. His spirit shimmered and then was replaced by his armor form of Predator. He had to remember what Black Crow had told him. He was on the spirit plane so he wasn't limited by his mortal body. Here in this plane of existence he was as powerful and limitless as he allowed his spirit to be. With a quick thought his armor beefed up, he was ready.

"I am ready," Predator said.

"Now remember, I can't interfere. I'll be using all my power and concentration to contain you and your families spirits with the two death spirits. You must battle them on your own. Either you defeat them and save your family or you lose and all three of your souls are taken over. As punishment by the death spirits, if you lose, you will not be able to join your family on the other side. Are you ready?" Black Crow asked.

"Yes, I'm ready." Predator said once again.

Black Crow waved his hand and staff in the air. The air began to shift and shimmer all around them. Suddenly Predator found himself high above in the sky encased by a sphere of some kind. He could see Black Crow off in the distance creating the sphere trapping him inside with four other spirits. He looked down and saw Mindy holding a spirit of a baby. He then looked to his other side and saw two dark spirits, coming in fast. They were heading right for his wife and child. He stepped in their way.

Predator raised both his arms and fired off a dozen blasts. The blasts hit both death spirits and knocked them back. They took notice of him and were now angry. The death spirits waved their hands and both of them called forth a scythe for each of them. They then came right at him in full fury waving their weapons of death. Black energy dripping off their weapons, ready to wipe him out of existence.

Predator shot off an energy net at the two spirits. The two death spirits slashed their scythes at the net. The two blades tore clean through the net slicing it away. One of the spirits made a gesture and pointed its finger at Predator. From the finger a swirl of smoke came forth. The smoke shifted and took the form of three death hounds. The death spirits stood back as the hounds pounced on Predator. Predator looked back at his wife and child and realized more than his soul was at stake.

He reached down deep within himself and called forth his inner power. The gauntlets on both arms shifted shape. He pointed them at the approaching hounds and released a blast of energy from each of them. Each blast hit a hound vaporizing them leaving only one left. Blasts fired from his boots lifting him up and over the third hound. Predator flipped over and around and landed behind the last hound. He pointed both arms and fired a blast that finished off the last hound.

Predator back-flipped and twisted so he landed facing the two death spirits. He stared at the two spirits awaiting their next move. For spirits he could tell they were not happy. They wanted his wife and child's souls and he was not about to let them have them. He decided it was time to end this. He had a family to get back to. Predator called upon his inner power and his hands shifted and a giant sharp blade extracted from each hand. The Predator then hunted.

_**Interlude One**_

Felicia looked at the clock as she rubbed her ring. It was very late and she wondered when her roommate would be home. She really felt bad about making the date with that storeowner Jesse. She didn't feel bad about taking him away from Tamara that was her plan. What she felt bad about was that she never planned on actually showing up for the date. All she wanted to do was drive a wedge between her relationship with Tamara.

According to the little argument that she had had with Tamara proved her plan worked. Only problem was that they still lived together. Well, sooner or later she would have to decided who would end up out on the streets, Felicia or Tamara. That would have to be a plan for a later time, for she had plans to make. Instead of showing up for the date with Jesse, she would be meeting with the TV station owners.

They had called an emergency mandatory meeting. Felicia assumed it had something to do with her more than humble attitude at work the last few days. Felicia smiled, if all went well she would either become very rich or Felicia would be fired from the show and would never find work again. Either way she would come out a winner. Her only problem is she didn't know what to do next after all this was done.

Felicia quit rubbing her ring and then looked at it. She rubbed her nail over a spot on the ring and the top flipped open. Inside was divided into four segments. Two were empty while the other two both held a liquid substance. Felicia flipped the ring shut and got up. She wanted to do a little snooping in Tamara's room before she headed out to go check on a couple dear friends of hers.

_**Interlude Two**_

Dragoness made it to her destination. Her special lenses in her mask allowed her to check energy signatures. There was only one guard in the hall and a standard security alarm. Dragoness flew to the top story window and hovered over it. She called forth her powers and allowed a little of her bioelectricity to crackle all over the window and the sill. With her powers disrupting the alarm she was able to open the window and crawl through and shut it again without setting it off. She then quietly made her way to the computer records room.

She went into the room and used her powers to weld the door shut so she wouldn't have any surprise visitors. She sat down and turned on the computer. After a few minutes she pulled up the files showing Felicia being the daughter of Lydia and Walter Hardy. There were no records of any siblings. After a few minutes she didn't find anything interesting on Felicia or Lydia. Walter on the other hand proved to be more active.

He had a criminal record a mile long. Looked like Felicia's dad was a major cat burglar. Also showed that Black Cat helped him out on a few occasions but had changed her ways and was cleared of all past criminal acts. Walter however remained a thief till he died. Records show a death certificate not too many years ago. Dragoness decided that was enough there and needed to look more into Anastasia and her connection to Lydia.

Dragoness typed in Lydia Simpson into the computer. She found a birth certificate to the woman and found she was an only child. She found nothing else on her besides her marriage to Walter. She was about to move on when something caught her eye. She clicked on it and found a waver of parental rights to the state orphanage. There was nothing else besides a date. Dragoness quickly typed in Anastasia's name.

After narrowing a few searches down she found what she was looking for. On the same date was a document stating Anastasia Simpson admittance to the state orphanage and released to the state for adoption. With a few keystrokes she verified hospital with orphanage and it all connected. For whatever reason, Lydia gave birth to a girl named her Anastasia and then the next day gave her up for adoption. That is where all records ended. Obviously what happened to Anastasia at the orphanage and after was unattainable. If she wanted to know more she would have to visit the orphanage.

Dragoness exited as easily as she had entered. She was growing tired and knew it was getting very late. Normally she would have called it a night but Felicia was her friend and something told her that she had to keep digging into this. Felicia was acting weird, Lydia was missing and who ever trashed her house left behind papers on Lydia's secret daughter Anastasia. Her gut told her that all answers lied with Anastasia Simpson. Hopefully what she needed would be found at the orphanage.

----

Predator was stressed. For what seemed like hours he had been going toe to toe with the two death spirits. He swung his blades defending and attacking. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. He wished that Crow would help him, but he understood that it had to be him and only him to save his family. Predator came back to reality when a blade almost grazed his head. He had to stay focused.

Predator did a flip and landed behind one of the death spirits. Up until now he had not been able to harm them. His blades and his suit powers have had no affect on them. He was battling with his soul for souls of his family. Suddenly he realized that that had to be it. He focused all his love faith, heart and soul and brought his two blades together. Suddenly they fused with his inner power and created one large glowing sword.

Predator swung the sword with all his might at the death spirit that was in front of him. The blade made contact with the spirit. In a glowing light show, the blade sliced through the spirit and caused it to scream in pain. In a brilliant flash of light the death spirit vanished. Predator couldn't believe it; he had one gone and only one more to go. He looked over and realized with the vanishing of the spirit that his wife's spirit was released from the weird aura around her. Only one more to go, for his child.

With the vanishing of his partner the last death spirit went nuts. Waving its hands a dozen spirit hounds came to life and attacked Predator. One by one, Predator jumped and flipped swinging his blade taking them out. He was to close to victory and had too much to lose to be stopped. In a matter of moments all the hounds had been slain. Predator now stood face to face with the spirit.

Predator knew he didn't have a lot of time or energy left. With all his might he hurled the sword at the attacking death spirit. The death spirit froze in place as the sword lodged into its chest. It stood there for a moment and then exploded in a series of lights. When the lights faded the spirit and the sword were both gone. He looked over and saw his child had joined his wife. Suddenly they were gone.

Predator began to panic as everything began to swirl around him. He screamed out his wife's name but no sound came out. He had to find them and make sure they were safe. In a surge of power he felt himself being lifted high up into the air. He suddenly found himself inside a glowing bubble. He could no longer see spirits or other death spirits. Standing in the bubble with him was Black Crow.

"What happened? Where's my wife and child?" Predator asked.

"Don't fear, they are safe and back within their bodies," Black Crow said as he waved his arms and Predator shifted and became Madison.

"Thank you so much, Crow. Thank you for saving my family," Madison cried.

"Madison, don't thank me, you trusted in yourself and saved them yourself," Black Crow said.

"I know, but I still thank you. I now see why it's important to have trust if this team is to make it together. I think for now though, let's wait awhile before we reveal our identities to the girls. With the new baby and needing to get things in order, we should wait," Madison said.

"That's fine, this is a first step for us. We'll all come full circle in time. Now my time is done, I need to go and you need to get back to your family. Take care my friend," Black Crow said as he waved his hands in the air.

Before Madison could say anything more to Black Crow the world around him shifted and things went dark. He began to hear voices and looked up and saw a doctor and his father-in-law standing over him. He looked at his hands and saw he was real again. He then thought of his wife and child.

"Mindy? The baby?" Madison screamed trying to get up.

"Hold on there, son. You took quit a fall there. Mindy is fine. God above gave us a New Years miracle. Mindy woke up and the baby is fine too. The doctors can't explain it short of a miracle," Mindy's father said.

Madison made it to his feet and walked into the next room and found his wife lying in the bed holding a beautiful baby.

"Mindy, how are you and the baby?" Madison asked.

"We're doing fine. Could we have a moment please?" Mindy asked as everyone cleared the room leaving Mindy with only her husband and baby.

"Honey, I'm so sorry about everything," Madison began to say as he sat down next to his wife and child with tears in his eyes.

"Stop, let me talk. I was wrong, if it wasn't for your team member, I wouldn't be here and neither would our child. Because of him, he allowed you to save us. For that I'll be eternally grateful to him and you," Mindy said.

"Oh, Mindy, I was so scared. I love you so much. I can't imagine my life without you," Madison said.

"Madison, my love, I don't want to be without you either. I want you home but I also now see how important it's for you to do what you do. I think maybe later we can sit down and talk about a compromise?" Mindy asked.

"Yes dear, we can work it out. Now, let's focus on our new family," Madison said as he looked at the child taking his wife's hand.

"What should we name her?" Mindy asked.

"I have a daughter? Wow, daddy's little girl looks as beautiful as her mother," Madison said taking the baby girl in his arms.

"Any idea on a girl names?" Mindy asked.

"Well I was thinking. In memory of a loving spirit that made this possible, how about Jessi?" Madison asked.

"I like it a lot. Jessi with an "I" and Marie after my mother," Mindy said.

"Welcome to the world Jessi Marie Jeffries," both Mindy and Madison said to their baby girl.

_**Epilogue**_

Dragoness made it to the orphanage and found the records room with ease. Even though she had stopped her evil ways, it did still pay off when it came to breaking and entering without getting caught. She dug through many files till she found the one she was looking for. Dragoness couldn't believe how many children pass through and live at the orphanage. She finally pulled out the file and began to read.

According to the file Anastasia Simpson became Anastasia without a last name two days after she was brought here. She guessed the orphanage strips all children of last names for whatever protective reasons. This file was hidden well. She then found the corresponding file for plain Anastasia with ID number 1256. She continued to read on.

By the age of five a family named Jackson adopted her. She was legally adopted and changed to Anastasia Jackson. All other files on her end and was placed away sealing her past away. Now that she had a new name and lead Dragoness had to fly to the city the Jackson's lived in. Dragoness headed out into the night sky. It was getting later but pure thrill and adrenaline was pushing her forward.

She finally made it to Philadelphia, PA and got into the city hall. She found the legal documents for Anastasia Jackson being adopted by the Jackson family. The family lived in a trailer court. Lot of records showing she grew up in a typical white trash family. Father filed bankruptcy and could barely support the family. Records show Anastasia getting in trouble all through school. No matter how many threats the Jackson's had, they managed to keep Anastasia.

Dragoness then hit an odd bump in the road. On March 17, Anastasia's 15th birthday, her adoptive parents died in a freak fire that burned down their home with them in it. As the Dragoness read on and searched farther, she read it was believed to be an accident caused by furnace blowing up. There were some filed charges with possible arson or murder but were discharged. The main dead end, Anastasia was labeled a runaway a few days after that and according to the records has been missing ever since and technically labeled dead after all this time.

Dragoness sighed. Her search had come to an end. She had no idea where to go from here. There was no way to track her now. She had searched more but could not find an Anastasia Simpson or Jackson anywhere. Lord only knows what happened to her or what name she goes by now. Dragoness took the files back to be put away the way she found them and decided to call it a night. As she put everything away a flash caught her eye.

She looked down and saw a small card stuck under the bottom of the shelves. She bent down and picked it up. It was a driver's license. Somebody must have dropped it while going through the files. Dragoness gasped as she read it. The name on the ID was Anastasia Vice. Coincidence or not, she had to take it. Dragoness ran to the computer and did a search. There was no information on Anastasia Vice, it was like she didn't exist and came out of nowhere. As she looked she found one only known location. She purchased a house in Bergsville, PA almost a year ago. Dragoness wrote down the address and decided to make one last house call, but first it was time to go home and get some rest.

**Next: Issue #9 – Prelude**


	10. Prelude

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #9 – Prelude**

Madison pulled into his driveway and quickly got out. He was really excited to be home. He ran to the passenger's side and opened the door. He helped his wife Mindy and their new baby girl out of the car. Today was little Jessi Marie Jeffries' first day home from the hospital. He looked at his wife and little girl and smiled deeply. He loved them more than anything, especially after almost losing them both. But thanks to his friend and teammate Jesse Crow AKA Black Crow, he was able to save them and bring them home.

"Hey there, Mr. Jeffries," said a soft voice.

"Hey there Jayson," Madison said turning around.

Madison looked over at the kid sitting on the front steps next door. Madison didn't know a lot about his neighbors, any of his neighbors to be exact. He did know that Jayson Landon was an only child. His parents Deedra and Omar had moved here from the Bronx. Jayson was 18 but a very skinny and scrawny boy. They had moved here to get away from all the tough kids and find a place that Jayson might fit in better. He just had occasional conversations with Jayson in passing but had never actually conversed with his parents.

"I see you brought the little one home," Jayson said.

"Yes, her name is Jessi Marie," Mindy said holding her up a little so Jayson could see.

"She is pretty can I hold her?" Jayson said as he got up and then tripped over his feet.

"Maybe another time. We have to get her in and fed," Madison said smiling and quickly ushering his family into the house.

"No problem," Jayson said as he picked himself up and headed into his own house.

They soon had Jessi down in her crib and Mindy and Madison stepped out the door. Madison held his wife for what seemed like eternity and then stepped back. It had been a few days since the birth of his daughter and he knew this subject was about to come up.

"I know how important the Wild Pack is to you and without them we wouldn't be here, but we also can't have you out there risking your life," Mindy said.

"I know dear and I've come up with a solution. Since the day you left I had been working on an idea. One that would allow me to still be apart of Wild Pack but not actually go out in the field as the Predator. I just have to put on the costume one last time to meet with the gang to tell them the plan," Madison said to his wife.

"So you mean you'll never put on the costume again?" Mindy asked.

"If this plan works I'll never have to put on the Predator costume again," Madison assured her.

"Okay, tell me your plan," Mindy said as she listened to Madison's plan.

"Be back later my love," Madison said as he got her approval and headed off.

Madison ran downstairs into his hidden basement and put on his Predator costume for the last time. He ran to his computer system and alerted the rest of Night Force to the time and place of a team meeting. After that was done he ran up to upstairs window. He looked out and then leapt out and headed off into the night, unaware of Jayson seeing it all, again.

----

Jesse was wheeling out of the shop. He had given Tamara the night off so he had closed. He didn't mind, gave him a chance to take his mind of things. He had recently gone through some changes and also helped Predator, now known to him as Madison Jeffries, save his family from the spirit world. What was hitting him the hardest was the fact that Felicia, the woman of his dreams, had stood him up. She wouldn't even return his calls. He had heard rumors of her show being taken off the air and that was keeping her occupied. Yeah right, whom was he kidding?

"Are you closing?" A voice shouted just as Jesse reached to pull the door shut.

Madison turned to see a man running up the street. He had strawberry blond hair and glasses. He looked like a very nice clean-cut guy. Jesse whipped his chair around and faced the approaching guy.

"Actually I was just locking up. Can I help you?" Jesse asked.

"Names Walter, Walter Langkowski. I just moved down here and took a teaching job at the university. I heard you sold rare books and wanted to see if you had some reading material for my class," Walter said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jesse Crow, owner of the Arts of the Crow. Normally I would close, but for you I could stay open a few minutes longer," Jesse said.

"Thanks I appreciate that. I'm teaching a section starting next week about Physics VS the Supernatural and need some books," Walter said.

"Well I got plenty. Head over to that section over there and see if there is anything that catches your fancy," Jesse said leading Walter into the store.

"Thanks, I promise not to be long," Walter said heading over to the book section.

Jesse passed the time by double checking his inventory list on the computer. Suddenly his watched flashed and he looked down. Predator was requesting a meeting. He had some time yet before the requested time but he better get going. He quickly told Walter he had to close up and Walter came over and bought a few books and said he would be back tomorrow to look over a few more. He said good-bye and then locked up the shop.

Jesse rolled himself to the limousine and got inside. While in the safety of his car he called forth his powers. In a shimmering instant the form of Jesse disappeared and the form of Black Crow was now seated in the back of the limousine. He then cracked the sunroof. Calling forth his powers he became a crow and flew out of the sunroof. In a mater of no time he would be at the meeting place.

----

Felicia grabbed her stuff and headed for the front door. She hadn't seen her roommate all day, which was a good thing. She couldn't count the times she almost strangled her. For now she would be happy with the fact that she had really hurt her by coming on to that Jesse guy and crushing him at the same time by standing him up. To top it off she would find out in a few days if she had lost her job or not. Everything has fallen into place nicely. All she had was a couple things to take care and she could leave this hellish city.

Just as Felicia stepped out the door she felt a bump to her side. She looked over to see a woman with tan-like skin and dark hair carrying a large box. The woman dropped the box after accidentally bumping into Felicia. She turned and extended her hand.

"I am so sorry. Names Cleo Nefertiti. I just moved into the apartment across from you," Cleo greeted.

"I'm to care on what count? Next time watch where you are going," Felicia said as she walked past Cleo and headed to the elevator.

"Wow, nice to know my new neighbor's a real witch," Cleo said glaring after Felicia.

Felicia got into the elevator and headed down. She didn't have time to pay attention to the lady. She had more important things to take care of. She made her way to the street and hailed a cab. Felicia quickly got in and gave the cab driver an address. She then sat back and enjoyed her ride thinking of what she had planned next.

----

Tamara got out of the cab and paid the driver. She looked around as the driver took off. She was in a very deserted and secluded area of Bergsville. She didn't see another sole anywhere. She looked in front and saw a green run down house. This was the address that belonged to an Anastasia Vice. Could this Anastasia be the same one that was Simpson and Jackson? Only one way to find out, so Tamara walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

After about five minutes Tamara assumed it was safe and that no one was home. She placed her mask on and threw off her trench coat that revealed her costume she was wearing underneath. Bioelectric wings exploded from her back and she took flight. She landed on the roof as her wings vanished. She walked over to the attic window and pushed it open. She quickly made her way inside.

Dragoness looked around and was surprised to see the attic empty. She found the door and made her way to the lower level. Once again there was no furniture anywhere. The living room was empty, as was the kitchen. There was some food in the fridge but that was about it. She found the bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom had a few items while the bedroom had a bed and a closet full of women's clothes. Dragoness went to the closet quickly.

After about ten minutes she sighed. There was absolutely nothing in this place. It was a big waste of time. Maybe she was making something out of nothing. She decided it was time to go home and face her roommate. As she headed for the front door she heard a cry. Dragoness listened but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. She finally traced it to the kitchen pantry. There in the pantry was a door that led into the floor.

Dragoness tried to pull it up but it wouldn't open. She called forth her powers and released a couple of her stinger blasts and blows the lock. She pulled the door open and climbed the ladder down into the secret basement. It was completely dark and damp in the basement, but she could hear a muffled cry from somewhere. Dragoness called forth her powers and created her bioelectric shield around her body to light the basement.

Dragoness gasped at what she finally saw. Against the far room wall were two women chained, bound and gagged. Dragoness saw a light switch and turned it on while she shut off her powers. She ran over to the two women to see that one was Felicia and the other was Felicia's mother. Dragoness could not understand how that could be when Felicia was back at the apartment. She quickly used her powers to free the women.

"Are you two okay? What happened?" Dragoness asked noticing the look in Felicia's eyes that her mother didn't know her secret.

"I don't know. One minute I was talking to an Avon lady on the front door and the next I was locked down her with a crazy lady yelling at me about being an unfit mother. She wouldn't say any more and she never revealed herself to me. She just said I would be getting what was coming to me," Lydia Hardy exclaimed in a quick sob.

"Who I thought was my mother was not my mother. I escorted my mother out to her cab and next thing I knew my mom was gone and another woman stood in her place. Before I could react I was hit over the head and woke up chained here. I have no idea who this woman is but she will pay," Felicia said holding her mother in her arms. "How did you find us?"

"A clue and a hunch led me to your mother's house which I found abandoned and a mess. There I found some interesting items that led me to a search that eventually led me here," Dragoness said as she told them the story of her adventure just changing it enough not to reveal her or Felicia's secret identity.

"Mom, what do you know of this Anastasia? What's going on?" Felicia asked.

"I, oh my God I don't know where to begin," Lydia sobbed.

"Well let me help you out, MOTHER," a voice shouted from behind them.

They all turned to see a tall woman with long blond hair. She was holding two gun-like weapons at them. She stepped into the light more and held the guns steady. They all gasped when the lady shifted appearance and was now a tall, slightly older woman with long dark hair.

"Here I pull up to my house to discover I have another guest. Don't even think about moving. If either of you make a move or you use your powers I will pull the trigger killing you all," The woman said.

"Who are you?" Felicia demanded.

"Your Anastasia Vice/Jackson/Simpson," Dragoness said.

"You're my long lost baby?" Lydia asked as she started in tears.

"Long lost baby? You mean this evil witch is my sister?" Felicia shouted.

"Actually half-sister. You see we share the same mother but different fathers," Anastasia said.

"Is this true? What's going on? Why did you never tell me I had a sister?" Felicia asked her mother.

"I don't know. It was so long ago, until recently I almost forgot," Lydia cried.

"Forgot did you? What kind of mother are you?" Anastasia shouted.

"Hey you watch it," Dragoness yelled taking a step forward.

"Don't even think about it. Mother tell them what you did and then I can continue the tale," Anastasia commanded.

"It was so long ago."

"Tell it or I start shooting."

"When I was young, I was raped. At that time I had been seeing your father Felicia. Walking home one night from a party I was mugged and raped. I was too ashamed to tell anyone not even your father. When I finally confessed it was too late to have an abortion. Your father was not happy, for he had proposed to me but not to the child I was bearing. Soon I gave birth and your father demanded that if I were to marry him I had to give her up for adoption. He wanted no part of the child. Since he wouldn't claim it I named her Anastasia Simpson and placed her into adoptive care.

"That is the last I ever knew of my little girl. Soon after I married your father and we started our own family and had you. I'm so sorry Anastasia, I loved you but he wouldn't let me have you," Lydia cried and cried.

"That's no excuse. If you loved me you would have kept me or searched for me," Anastasia shouted.

"I'm so sorry," Lydia cried.

"So what are you doing now?" Dragoness shouted.

"You see, I want them to pay for ruining my life. See I was adopted by the Jackson's and went to live with them. After years of living with them in poverty, I was finally told I was adopted. I had never been so happy to find out that I didn't belong to that awful family. You see, that wasn't the only thing I found out, I also discovered I was a mutant. I had the ability to take on the form of any living thing through mixing their blood with mine.

"After I mastered my gift I decided to search out my birth parents. The Jackson's told me that my real family didn't want me so I said good-bye and headed out to find my mother," Anastasia told.

"You mean after you killed them and went missing," Dragoness said.

"Shut up witch! After years and years I discovered who my mother was and what kind of life she had and the life her other daughter had with her. So I waited and plotted and here we are now. You see this ring can hold up to three blood types with a needle that goes into my skin. This allows the blood to go in and I can shape shift. Even after you are all dead I can carry on your identities for a while," Anastasia laughed.

"You can't do this," Felicia said over her mother's cries.

"Oh yes I can. I want her and you to suffer," Anastasia said.

Dragoness tried to form a plan while the three family members went back and forth. She could strike her but not at risk of her firing off those weapons. Dragoness decided to act and called forth her powers.

"Not a smart idea," Anastasia shouted pointing the weapons directly at the three of them making Dragoness back off.

"You can't hold us here for ever," Dragoness exclaimed.

"Your right, I don't plan to. I think I'll kill you all right now," Anastasia laughed as she started to squeeze the triggers.

Dragoness shot a stinger blast at Lydia that moved her clear out of the way and knocking her out on the far wall. She then called forth her bioelectric shield all around her body that deflected the blasts from the guns. With Lydia knocked out Felicia leapt up and out of the way. She landed behind her half-sister.

"Family reunion is over my dear," Felicia said as she kicked both guns out of Anastasia's hands.

"How?" Anastasia asked as Dragoness released her dragon's breath destroying the guns.

Felicia then punched her half sister and watched her drop to the ground out cold. Felicia then ran over to her mom to help her up.

"I already signaled the police they will be here any minute. I noticed Predator has been paging a meeting. I'll head there," Dragoness said.

"Okay thanks. I have to stay with my mother for now, tell them Black Cat is handling this case and you can fill me in later at home," Felicia whispered.

"Sure take care," Dragoness said as she headed out.

Felicia walked over to her mom and held her waiting for the police to arrive.

----

"Okay, it will be just the three of us then. Dragoness you can fill Black Cat in later," Predator said after Dragoness said that Black Cat was in the middle of an arrest.

"Due to personal reasons and incorporating a better way to lead this team I have made a few decisions. I'm quitting as the Predator. I'll no longer be wearing this costume and going into battle," Predator said.

"What?" Both Black Crow and Dragoness exclaimed.

"Hold on, before you both start yelling. In a secret location I'm putting together a high tech computer network and system. I'll be updating your com-links so I can talk to you guys at all times. This way I'll guide you and be your information network while you three are out in the field," Predator said as he explained to them his full plan.

"It sounds like a good plan but we'll miss you in battle," Black Crow said.

"I know but I'll still be with you. In time we might have to seek out new members but I have a feeling that our mysterious villains and the job agency is going to lead to something big. Not only do we need muscle but I feel someone has to be monitoring and working the cyber realm," Predator said thinking that the other reason was he could be safe at home with his new daughter and making his wife happy.

"I can see your point. Once you get this system up and running I think it may be time to look more into the job agency," Dragoness said.

After a few more minutes the three headed their separate ways. When all three got home it was all over the news. They watched the whole broadcast about Anastasia Vice, kidnapping Felicia and her mother and taking on Felicia's identity. Members of the Vault were taking her back to New York to face charges on the alleged murder of the Jackson's. They way things sounded, she would be put away for a very long time.

Madison shut off the TV and joined his wife and daughter. He had a lot to do but when he was done he would be able to run his team and stay safe at home at the same time. He wasn't sure how all this would work out but thanks to some old friends of his he was going to have a great network system. Hopefully this would give them the edge they needed to figure out what was going on in this city.

While Madison was thinking with his family Jesse Crow was shutting his TV off also. He had conflicting emotions. One, the girl of his dreams never blew him off but now he wasn't sure if the real Felicia would even like him. He would have to be patient. At least he still had a chance.

Felicia called Tamara and got the news about Predator. She couldn't believe it but understood the decision. She told Tamara that she was going back to New York with her mother and would return in a few days after they sorted through this whole mess. Tamara then hung up and went to bed in relief. The right Felicia was back and now she had to work on getting Jesse before it was too late again. Even though Predator was changing his role, at least the team was all back again.

----

Back in an upper floor office of Force Job Agency, the president hangs up the phone. He then pages Miss White, the woman in charge of all the employees. She comes running into the office.

"You called for me?" Miss White asked.

"You have always done a good job even though you cut it close with Tamara Kurtz. Unfortunately she escaped her father's wrath. I'm tired of the way things are going and pressure from my peers and boss is getting to me. The Storm is coming and we have to be ready. I want the agents from the special file to be contacted. Tamara needs to be dealt with and eliminated. Also I want Mr. Crow out of that store even if we have to kill him," the President of the company commanded.

Miss White nodded and went to pull the files and make a few phone calls.

**Next: Issue #10 – The Attack – Part One**


	11. The Attack Part One

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #10 – The Attack – Part One**

Tamara headed home from a long day working at Arts of the Crow. It had been a few weeks since Felicia's sister had been arrested and things were back to normal. Well, as much as they could be for someone who belonged to a super hero group called Wild Pack. She and Felicia were good friends again while she secretly held her crush for Jesse Crow. On the Wild Pack front not much has been happening.

Predator was now calling himself Cyber-Worm or CW for short. He never went into battle but kept in communications constantly with their new com system. It's a little hard to get used to but it came in handy having someone providing real-time assistance. As much as she liked the down time she really wished something would come up for Wild Pack, especially a break in their investigation on Force Job Agency.

As Tamara approached her apartment complex the street light glowed in full as the sun vanished and the night stars came out. Just as she was about to walk up the front steps she heard a noise that sent chills up and down her spine. Like the sound of finger nails running across a chalkboard. She turned to see not a soul in sight. She turned to head into the building when she heard it again.

"Who's there?" Tamara called out as she stepped near the ally.

Tamara screamed as she suddenly felt a tight invisible grip around her body as she was yanked into the ally. As she found herself pinned against a wall she saw two figures approaching her. The first she recognized as Gravity, one of the three sisters who she had fought before. The second was a man with blades for hands.

She knew him from Black Crow's description of the man who had killed Slyde and attempted to kill him. Cutter smiled as he moved closer to Tamara. Tamara couldn't move. She was completely trapped by Gravity's power. She might gain the advantage if she called on her powers, but that would expose her secret identity. As the man moved closer she knew she had to decide fast.

As she felt her powers begin to crackle she saw two small blasts fly through the ally and hit Gravity. Tamara dropped to the ground, free from her prison, to see Gravity having trouble getting her body to stand up. A figure dropped down in front of Gravity and hit her with a round kick that sent her back into the wall knocking her out. Cutter turned to face the new threat.

A woman in a white spandex outfit with green snakes running up the side of her legs and wrapping around her chest looked back at Cutter. She wore green boots and gloves and a small green snake-like eye mask. Her hair was tied up into a green snake-like crown. She smiled as Cutter ran at her.

"You're going to be one diced reptile," Cutter said.

With amazing speed the woman was up in the air, somersaulting over Cutter and landing behind him. He swore as he stopped and turned back around. Fury burned within his eyes as he ran at the snake woman. The lady began to move in a seductive snake-like dance. Right before Cutter reached her she ended her dance by touching her hands together above her head.

At that moment a powerful blast shot forth from her hands and hit Cutter sending him flat to the ground. The woman smiled as her victim laid there unable to move, completely paralyzed. The woman walked over to Tamara and gave her a hand up.

"He should be unable to move for a few hours. Enough time for the cops to nab them and you to get to safety. Next time stay away from dark allies," the lady said as she moved with great speed, vanishing from the ally.

_**Arts for the Crow**_

Jesse flipped the sign and locked the door after Tamara left. Even tough things had not worked out with Felicia he had gained something more. He had passed his spiritual test and gained his true potential as the possessor of the power of his ancestors. All this had resulted in saving the lives of his new friend, Madison Jeffries and his family.

The coolest thing about his new friend was that he was also the Predator, now known as Cyber-Worm and the leader of Wild Pack. It was nice to have a friend who was also a teammate. It was a special bond of trust to share ones secret identity. Maybe in time, all of Wild Pack would reach that level of trust and share their secret identities.

"We're closed," Jesse shouted as he suddenly heard a knock on the store's front door.

"I said we're closed," Jesse shouted again as the knocking and rattling of the front door continued.

The knocking continued as Jesse swore and moved his wheelchair towards the door. Just as he got a few feet from the door the knocking stopped. Jesse paused and then sighed with relief when it appeared his rude guests had left. He turned his chair around and moved back towards the counter when the front door suddenly exploded inwards.

Jesse was lifted up from his chair and sent flying forward from the force of the explosion. Jesse hit the ground and turned to see four figures stepping through the smoke filled entryway. Jesse crawled his way behind the counter and out of sight. He peaked around to get a look at his invaders.

The first one was a bald man in a purple outfit. From the looks of the silver on his arms, Jesse could tell he was a cyborg of some kind. The second man in looked more like a monkey, who was dressed like a French man with a black beret. The third was a green skinned man that looked very alien. The last one into the shop was a good-looking dark haired man wearing sun glasses and carrying a shotgun.

"Looks like no ones here," the green alien said.

"No, I can smell him," the man in shades said sniffing the air.

"Time to close shop," the cyborg said as guns came out of his arms and he opened fire on the book cases.

"You can hide were you want, Mr. Crow but we'll tear this place apart to find you," the human monkey said as he leapt up on book cases and throwing them down.

Jesse moved closer back into the shadows of the counter. He had no idea who these thugs were but he would have to change into the Black Crow. The only problem was doing it without giving away his secret identity. Just as he got to the other side of the counter a shadow moved over him. He looked up to see the man in shades smiling down at him.

"Greetings, Mr. Crow. Looks like you are at a disadvantage here," the man laughed.

"Looks can be deceiving," Jesse said as he threw a capsule at the counter top causing an explosion.

The man fell off the counter swearing. Jesse knew he had no choice, he had to become Black Crow or he would die. Jesse closed his eyes and began to call forth his powers.

"I'm going to enjoy killing him," the man said jumping to his feet as the wound on his face began to heal.

"No, we have to go. My mutant power is telling me we must leave now," the monkey man said.

"As much as I hate to leave, be assured we'll be back if you don't sell your shop," he man in glasses said as a loud crack of thunder went off.

From behind the smoke filled counter the Black Crow emerged. He landed in the front lobby and quickly had his spear in hand. He moved form side to side to find that his shop was empty. Suddenly another large shape emerged through the doorway. Black Crow turned to come face to face with a giant orange beast. Black Crow pointed his spear at the creature and stood his ground.

"You're friends didn't do enough damage that you came back for more?" Black Crow asked.

"No, I heard a large commotion and came to help. You do all this damage?" the orange creature said baring his teeth.

"No, I'm the protector of this shop. Four villains came crashing in here but vanished before I could take them down," Black Crow said as he sensed good intentions from the animal before him.

"My name's Sasquatch. I used to be a member of Alpha Flight. I'm new in town," Sasquatch said as he extended a hand out.

"Black Crow of the Wild Pack," Jesse said shaking the creature's hand.

"What did they want here?" Sasquatch asked.

"I don't know. They vanished as quickly as they had come," Black Crow said.

"Well, they weren't very tidy were they? Shall I give you a hand?" Sasquatch said as he began to help clean up the shop.

"Thanks," Black Crow said as he picked up a bookcase and began to tell Sasquatch about the city and his team the Wild Pack.

_**Next Door to the Jeffries' Home**_

Jayson Landon sat staring out his bedroom window at the house next door. He really didn't know Madison or his family very well but he seemed like a cool guy. Not only did Jason find him nice but very mysterious. Many times he had thought he had seen a figure sneak in and out of that house. There was more to Madison and Jayson was determined to find out.

The Jeffries had left leaving the house dark and empty. Jayson looked up and saw the attic window open. Before Jayson could contemplate how wrong it would be he was leaping out his window and into the trees and then up onto the Jeffries roof. He then made his way into the attic window.

Once inside he just found a room cluttered with boxes. He was kind of disappointed that he hadn't found anything interesting or incriminating. He was about to make his way out the window when he heard a noise outside. Fearing it was the Jeffries returning home he ducked down and peaked out the attic window. It wasn't the Jeffries he was seeing.

Walking up to the house were two figures clad in costume-like clothing. He wasn't sure what they were up to but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good. As they got closer he could make out that they were female and he could just make out what they were saying.

"So run this by me again," one of the girls said.

"White says that a signal to the Wild Pack was coming from this neighborhood. She wants us to beak into each house and see what we can find but to keep it on the down low," the other girl said.

"So which house do we start with?" One of the girls asked the other girl.

"I'll take this one you get the one next door," the other girl responded.

Jayson began to sweat. They were going to break into Jeffries' house and his house. He had to do something before it was too late. As Jayson got up he tripped and fell against a wall. The wall shifted and swung around with him dropping him into a secret room. Jayson gasped at the sight. There were computers and gadgets everywhere. He then looked over and saw a robot-like suit that looked like the Wild Pack member Predator.

"Jeffries is Predator?" Jayson asked himself out loud.

Suddenly one of the computer monitors turned on revealing the one girl trying to pick the front door lock. Jayson fell backwards onto the Predator suit. He didn't know if it was fear or excitement of the moment but is whole body was beginning to tingle. Next thing he knew he was becoming ghost-like and then was absorbed into the suit.

"What just happened?" Jayson said in a weird voice.

Jayson ran to a mirror and saw the Predator looking back at him. He no longer felt like himself. He could only feel the suit. Somehow he had possessed the Predator suit. Was he a mutant like the ones he had read about? Jayson decided it didn't matter, he was now special and it was his chance to be a hero.

Jayson made it back to the attic window and looked out. Like second nature, he thought about flying and the suit came to life. He panicked as he found himself flying in the air and then landing behind the girl at the front door. She turned around and he knew it was show time.

"Stop, you're under arrest," Jayson said in his new Predator voice.

"Oh, it's payback time," the girl said as powerful blast shot from her hands.

Jayson saw the blast heading towards him. He thought about getting out of the way and the suit came to life. Jets on his boots shot him up out of harms way. The blasts hit a parked car setting it on fire. Jason landed on the ground to see the other girl heading towards him.

"Oh, my turn," the girl said as she approached.

She pointed her hands at the burning car. Suddenly the flames lifted off of the car and wrapped around her hands. She then whipped her hand at Predator sending the fire his way. Jayson had to put the fire out before it hit him or anything else. At the thought, pellets shot from his wrists covering the fire in some kind of foam. In minutes the fire was out.

"Fire, we have to go. There's a car coming," the girl who had shot blasts said.

"Don't worry, we'll be back," Fire said as she and her partner took off into the night.

Jayson turned to see a car coming at him. He immediately recognized the Jeffries. He had to vanish before Madison caught him. As he moved to run, he felt a weird sensation. He looked back to see the suit dropping to the ground, he was a ghost. He quickly moved toward his house. Just as he made it to the backdoor, he became solid.

"Madison, what is going on?" Mindy said at the Predator sit laying in the front yard.

"I don't know, but I better get that suit inside and check into something," Madison said as he saw Jayson vanish around the corner of the house.

_**An Abandoned Warehouse**_

Felicia had just arrived into town from her mother's house when her Wild Pack alarm went off. She looked down to see that Cyber-Worm was calling an emergency meeting at the old warehouse. She dashed into her house and was soon scaling the rooftops as Black Cat.

It had been awhile since she had been out with the Pack and it was good to get the distraction. After everything that had gone on with her mom and her half-sister, she needed a change of scenery. Once she made it to the warehouse she leapt into a window to find Dragoness, Black Crow and a holographic image of a floating robotic worm.

"Still not digging the new look," Black Cat laughed.

"You may not like it but it my new method is very beneficial to this team," Madison said also thinking how it helped his personal life too.

"Okay, whatever you say. So what's the emergency?" Black Cat asked.

"The other night, a neighborhood was attacked. After checking surveillance that I tapped into I recognized the evil girls we believe are connected to Force Job Agency as Blast and Fire," Cyber-Worm said.

"What were they doing there? What happened to them?" Black Cat asked feeling like she was really out of the loop from being gone.

"They were driven off by another person. Someone wearing my old Predator costume," Cyber-Worm said as a person wearing the Predator costume came out of the shadows.

"What?" The other three turned and gasped.

"I over heard them say that someone called White had sent them there to ran sack the houses," the new Predator said.

"What's with the newbie?" Black Cat asked.

"I thought with what we might be up against, having some new blood might be wise. Especially having a Predator back on the team," Cyber-Worm said.

Madison had seen his cameras and what Jayson could do and had done. He went over to confront Jayson about it. Jayson really wanted to become someone special. He begged Madison that if he let him join the Pack he would keep his secret. After hours of debate, Madison agreed and started around the clock training.

Being as he became a ghost when he possessed the suit, he wasn't in any real danger. Despite Mindy's disapproval Madison had begun to train a new Predator. He just hopped he wouldn't live to regret it.

"We also have two other temporary members who have agreed to help the Pack," Cyber-Worm said as a large orange creature and a woman stepped into the light.

"Sasquatch and Asp," Cyber-Worm introduced the two new people.

After Black Crow had told him about the attack on his shop he recognized his old Alpha Flight friend Walter Langkowski. He had tracked him down and paid him a visit at the university. After a long talk and catching up on what was happening to Alpha Flight and Mac, Walter had agreed to help him out. For now, they agreed on keeping their identity's secret.

The Asp wasn't that hard to find. After Dragoness had told her about the attack on a woman in an alley by Gravity and Cutter he searched the computer and found the description that met Asp's profile. In a matter of moments he had her real name and had found the trail leading to her knew home. He had approached her as Cyber-Worm and she needing a new start she would love giving true heroism a shot.

"So far we know on the same night Cutter and the three Jones girls had made a move. All four seem to have been suspected of being tied to Force Job Agency. I also did a search on the four that had attacked the Arts of the Crow shop. This is the reason why I felt to bring in more help," Cyber-Worm said.

"Who were they?" Black Crow asked remembering that night all too well.

"The cyborg was an old attempt to make a new Deathlok. This Deathlok used to be known as Larry Young before his mind got trapped into that cybernetic body. No matter the version, a Deathlok is always dangerous.

"The human looking monkey is the only surviving member of an evil group called Euro-Trash. Not a lot is known about him, but X-Static had classified them as bad news in the X-Files. The last two are very dangerous by themselves let alone working as a group.

"The green guy is the alien Skrull known as Paibok. This guy has made the Fantastic Four quiver. He can shape shift, turn his skin to metal, shot bio-electrical blasts and can freeze things with extreme cold. He will be tough to take down as will the last member of the four.

"His name's Alyosha Kravinhoff," Cyber-Worm said as the holographic images changed to show the next profile.

"The Hunter?" Black Cat gasped.

"You know him?" Dragoness asked.

"Yes, he is related to THE Kraven the Hunter, the man who almost killed Spider-Man. If a Kravinhoff is hunting you, you're as good as dead. Especially Alyosha who can heal and talk to animals on top of his strength, speed and agility," Black Cat said.

"Wow," Jayson whispered at the others as he wondered what he had gotten himself into.

"Well, that's not all. I did some Cyber-Surfing and was able to find out that the White they talked about in front of Predator could be one of the office managers at Force Job Agency," Cyber-Worm said.

"Mrs. White, it has to be," Dragoness said remembering her old boss.

"I have reason to believe that the four attackers on the store were contacted by someone at Force Job Agency. I also have reason to believe that some one bigger somewhere else is calling the shots. I need into that building and access to their systems to get more," Cyber-Worm said.

"What's the plan?" Sasquatch asked.

"I found an electronic message that Force Job was sending a request about an empty lot down town. I think we need to check it out. Predator and Dragoness will break into Force Job Agency and get me access to their systems so I can find more evidence. Sasquatch, Black Cat and Asp will go check out the vacant lot. I will keep contact with both teams," Cyber-Worm said.

"Guess since Sasquatch and Cybie appear to be old friends he's new leader?" Black Cat mumbled to Asp.

"Does it really matter?" Asp as she walked away from Black Cat.

After a few more instructions from Cyber-Worm the two teams headed off on their missions. Force Job may have started the attacks but they would now take the offensive and put an end to whatever they were doing.

_**Epilogue**_

A man sat in his New York office building when the reflection in the mirror became a fiery wall of flames. The man didn't even flinch as a dark face appeared within the fire.

"The storm is almost upon us. How are things going in your city?" The dark figure asked.

"The city is completely owned. The one shop, we stole the deep and magically altered it so it will suffice for the plan," the business man said.

"What about the other problem?" The dark figure growled.

"I caught the cyber trail and set a trap. They won't know what hit them," the man said.

"Good, we can't afford to have tem come between my plans or it will be the death of you. I'll be calling on you soon. DO not disappoint me," the dark figure said and then vanished along with the fames on the window.

"I won't," the man said wondering if this was all worth the price of his soul.

**Next: Issue #11 – The Attack – Part Two**


	12. The Attack Part Two

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #11 – The Attack – Part Two**

_**Downtown – Vacant Lot**_

"I don't see anything?" Sasquatch said looking around.

Black Cat glanced around the vacant lot. Cyber-Worm had sent them here because he had come across information saying their mysterious foes would be striking here next. Cat had almost expected to find some building, device secret cult of hobos, anything but this. Just a lot filled with piles of dirt and trash surrounded by run down and abandoned buildings. There was absolutely nothing special about this place at all.

"Me either. I've a feeling that Mr. Worm doesn't quite have all the answers. I think we should head back and check out the job agency with the rest of the team," Asp said wanting to get away from this filthy pit.

"As much as I trust Cyber, even my nose isn't picking up anything but the trash," Sasquatch said scrunching up his nose.

"I don't know who put you two in charge but you're still rookies to this team and I'm not taking orders from an orange fur ball and a snake from the Serpent Society," Black Cat said glaring at the two.

"I'm no longer associated with them and you know it. I don't recall you being put in charge of this mission," Asp said beginning to take a defensive position.

"Ladies," Sasquatch began to say.

"I've been on this team since the beginning with Predator and that gives me seniority," Black Cat said.

"Actually, if you want to get technical, I've known Predator far longer than anyone on your team. We go way back and we've been at this far longer than any of you. Ever since our Alpha Flight days," Sasquatch chimed in.

"Alpha Flight? I thought I knew you from somewhere, you're Sasquatch as in Walter Langkowski," Black Cat smiled. "So who's Predator?"

"Sorry, he would like to keep that secret for personal reasons," Walter said swearing at himself for his slip.

"That's enough, Cat," Cyber-Worm's voice rang from within her ear piece.

"Well, if it isn't our mysterious leader now," Black Cat said mockingly. She knew, with his new network that he probably new her civilian identity, but now that she knew he was from Alpha Flight she found it not fair to not know his. Plus, the curiosity ate at her.

"We don't have time for this. Black Cat, you know as well as anyone that a person can reform from crime and attempt fresh start," Cyber-Work said.

Black Cat just smiled but she was boiling inside. She hated being brought down like that in front of others. She wasn't ashamed for her past but she has tried to put it behind her and not define her as a person. Like Asp, she had once been a criminal, but thanks to her Spidey-Crush she had joined the side of the angels. For Cybie, she would swallow her pride and get along. Why did she always fall for guys that were taken and never available to her?

"Cyber, we're not finding anything here," Sasquatch said changing the subject and getting them back on track.

"Keep a look out. They're sending someone there for something. I know I'm right about this," Cyber-Worm said rechecking his info he had retrieved.

"We'll keep looking boss and don't worry, we'll play nice," Black Cat said throwing a fake smile at Asp.

"Good to hear. If you still don't find anything in an hour, meet us near the Force Job Agency. My team's almost inside now and I'll be switching to radio silence. Once in, I'll have to devote all my time and resources to penetrating their systems and keep their defenses and alarms off the team," Cyber-Work said.

"Good luck," Walter and Felicia said at the same time.

"Same to you, Cyber –Worm out," Cyber-Worm said and signing off.

"So, what do you think they're after?" Asp said, asking no one in particular.

"Why you, of course. Falling right into our little trap," a voice said from atop a building.

The three members of Wild Pack looked up to see the three Jones Sisters, Gravity, Fire and Blast along with Deathlok, Paibok and the Hunter staring down at them. With a motion from Hunter, they advanced down upon the three with powers blazing.

"Kill them, but leave the Cat for me," Hunter said smiling right at Felicia.

_**Force Job Agency**_

"There's the place," Dragoness said as she and the new Predator glanced at the building from across the street.

"How're we going to get in?" Predator asked.

Jayson looked at the building and back at Dragoness. All his life he had watched and read stories about super heroes and now he was one. He still couldn't believe it. He was scared and excited all at the same time. If anything, he just hoped he could prove himself and not let the others down, especially Madison.

"Their alarm systems are pretty advanced," Cyber-Worm said over the radios in their ears.

"What do you suggest we do?" Dragoness asked.

"Predator, I want you to try something. Walk up to the door and phase out of your suit but not all the way. I want you to try and posses both your suit and the alarm on the door. In doing so, it will create a link form your suit to the alarm system that I can tap into. Once I do that I can shut off the alarms and get you guys inside," Cyber-Worm said.

Predator and Dragoness ran up to the building. Predator placed his hand near the keypad on the door and concentrated. He hoped this would work for he was still new to his powers. A weird sensation came over him as he felt himself leaving the suit. He stretched out his ghost like arm and touched the keypad on the door. Once he could feel the alarm he focused on possessing it. Soon he could feel himself between two laced, the suit and the building's alarm system.

"Better hurry," Jayson whispered feeling the strain on his body.

Madison went to work the moment he felt the link establish. It took some fancy networking but he soon had the alarms off and the doors unlocked. He knew it wouldn't last so he encouraged them through quickly. Once inside, Dragoness placed a device on the keypad on the inner door. In a matter of moments, the device allowed Cyber-Worm to gain complete control over the alarm system and shut if off and disable the cameras till they were done.

"We did it," Predator sighed as he shifted back fully into the Predator suit.

"We don't have much time. Dragoness, find Miss White's office. Once inside you will place the flash drive into her computer and that should allow me to gain full access to their computer network and hopefully find the information we need," Cyber-Worm said.

Dragoness knew exactly where to go. In a matter of moments they had made it to her old boss's office. She tried the door and it was locked. She placed the tip of her finger on the keyhole and called forth her powers. After a brief bio-electric blast the door flew open. Dragoness ran in as Predator stepped in after her.

"We're inside," Dragoness said.

"Great work. Now place the flash drive into her PC," Cyber-Worm said.

Once Dragoness had turned on the computer and inserted the flash drive, Cyber-Worm went to work. There were a lot of firewalls and security measures in place and he would have to do a lot of fancy figure work to get past them all and find what he was looking for. He just hoped he could get it and get his team out before they got caught.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to step away from my desk," a lady said causing them to jump.

"Miss White?" Dragoness asked as she saw her old boss step through another doorway.

"You have to stall and buy me the time I need," Cyber-Worm said into the Wild Pack's ears.

"Shouldn't be hard to tie her up," Predator laughed.

"Oh, don't think I didn't come prepared," Miss White said as another figure stepped out from behind her and stepped toward Predator.

"Cutter, peel open that tin can. Oh, and don't think you're getting off that easy, girl," Miss White laughed as the area around her hands began to glow white with light.

_**Vacant Lot**_

Black Cat was bruised and bleeding. They were out numbered two to one and they were over whelmed. Sasquatch was barely avoiding the powerful blasts of Deathlok and Paibok while Gravity and Blast kept Asp on the defensive. Black Cat wasn't too worried about Fire, it was Hunter that was giving her a taste of bad luck. They needed to get the upper hand before it was too late.

"Give up, Cat. You can't win against the Hunter," Hunter smiled as he dashed and nicked Felicia again with his knife drawing blood.

"Never," Black Cat said growling. She just needed to get one scratch on him.

Just as Black Cat was ready to pounce, a thick fog appeared out of no where. Moments later, the ground began to shake causing everyone to lose there footing and the bad guys to become distracted. Before anyone could react, hundreds of rats crawled out of the trash and vacant lot and swarmed the villains. Black Cat wondered where their luck was coming from when she saw a familiar face atop a building.

"Black Crow, thought you were suppose to stay at the Art of the Crow shop incase they showed p there again?" Cat asked.

"I had a feeling I might be needed here. Hope you're not complaining?" Black Crow smiled as he leapt and landed next to her.

"Not at all. I can say we're al glad to see you," Sasquatch said.

"I wouldn't get to comfy. The rats are leaving," Asp said as the rats were soon gone from sight.

"Crow here isn't the only one that can talk to the animals," Hunter laughed as he had convinced the rats to leave.

"Let's finish this," Black Cat snarled as she leapt at Hunter.

"I'll handle the sisters," Black Crow said facing the three again.

"Big green guy is mine," Sasquatch said running at Paibok while Asp turned and faced Deathlok.

Deathlok aimed his gun at Asp and fired at the dancing lady. Asp dodged and laughed. The whole time she had been on the defense before she had actually been charging herself up and now she was at full power. She began to dance and then brought her hands together above her head. A powerful blast left her hands and hit Deathlok square in the chest.

Deathlok screamed as the blast rendered his human parts paralyzed and his robotic parts offline. It had been a long time since she had sent a blast that powerful. The good side of her was glad it didn't kill him, but feared she may have left him permanently immobile. The bad sighed of her shrugged and knew he had it coming.

Sasquatch dodged the freeze and electrical basts that Paibok threw at him. He reached the evil Skrull and slammed him to the ground. Paibok turned his skin to metal and sent a hard punch back at the orange beast. Walter hit the ground and rubbed his chin. This would be tougher than he thought. Sasquatch growled and pounced on the alien and body slammed him to the ground.

Paibok was getting angry and was ready to finish the beast off when a series of blasts hit him in the back. Asp didn't have a lot of power left but it was enough to hit him with a few blasts. It didn't paralyze him, but it was enough to slow him down and weaken his powers. Sasquatch nodded thanks and began to hit the green Skrull. Paibok had just about had enough. He had only agreed to this as a means of observing the humans.

"I'm done here," Paibok said as he threw Sasquatch off and shifted form and took flight blasting up and into space unknown.

"Coward," Gravity shouted as she saw the green alien fly off.

"We don't need him to take care of these freaks," Blast said sending a blast at Black Crow.

Black Crow dodged the blast and turned to Gravity. He knew he had to take her down first. He called forth his powers and became a lightening bolt and flew at the girl. Before he hit her he shifted back so the impact would be minimum. Black Crow landed on his feet to see the impact affect Gravity enough to knock her unconscious. He then turned to face a wave of fire coming his way.

Black Crow leapt up and out of the way. He then reached behind him and suddenly had a spear in his hands. He swung it in time to deflect a blast from Blast and send it at Fire, knocking her out. He then threw the spear at Blast. As she sent a blast to protect herself, feather knives appeared in Crow's hands and found their way into the girl's body causing her to fall asleep from the knives tips.

"Three more down," Asp commented as her and Sasquatch approached Black Crow as he tied and bound the three girls.

"Better check on Cat," Black Crow said.

"Give up?" Hunter smiled.

"Never," Cat said as she jabbed inward and scratched the man on his cheek.

"Hardly a scratch," Hunter laughed grabbing her and throwing her backwards.

"It's all I needed," Black Cat smiled as she called forth her powers.

"For what?" Hunter asked as he suddenly felt off.

"My secret mutant power," Black Cat laughed as she sent bad luck his way.

Hunter snarled and leapt at the Black Cat. Out of no where he tripped over something and hit the ground. Black Cat was on him and putting him in a sleeper hold. She knew luck would only go so far and had to take him out fast. She started to pull out her rope when Hunter pulled free.

"We'll meet again when luck is on my side," Hunter said as he quickly dashed into the night.

"He got away," Black Cat swore.

"Don't worry, we have four of them. That's all that matter," Black Crow said as they all made sure their prisoners wouldn't get away before the authorities arrived.

_**Force Job Agency**_

Dragoness kept sending off her bio-electricity, but Miss White's white light powers seemed to draw and absorb her power. She didn't know what to do. White just stood there laughing. Dragoness was getting angry but was then distracted when she heard Predator scream. She looked over to see Cutter slice both his bladed arms threw Predators suit of armor.

Predator screamed in pure agony. Even though he wasn't really being cut, he could still feel the pain. The suit fell into two pieces as Jayson became solid next to it. Cutter smiled and advanced on him. With the suit out of play he had no way to defend himself. He closed his eyes and prayed.

"What?" Dragoness asked as the sight of the young kid.

Dragoness shouldn't believe it. Predator couldn't be more than eighteen. She thought he was older than her. She shook her head. She had to act fast or he would be killed. She called for her powers and sent her dragon's breath. The bio-electricity hit Cutter sending him to the ground in convulsions. He was soon out like a light, but that left Dragoness wide open. A white blast hit her in the back sending her crashing into the wall.

"Time to turn this computer off," White said as she moved toward her computer.

"Without the suit I've no way to contact Cyber-Worm. Going to have to risk it and stop her," Jayson said as he ran at the PC, calling forth his power and possessed the PC.

Just as White touched it Jayson took control. The PC shorted out and exploded in White's face burning her hands and face. She screamed as he became solid again. He quickly grabbed a large book and hit her over the head knocking her out. He then turned to check on Dragoness who was just getting to her feet.

"Good work," Dragoness said.

"Yeah, but I destroyed the PC," Jayson said.

"That's okay. Cybie was still able to get a bunch of files. He was only able to send documentation to the local and national authorities on White and Force Job Agency and her hired help. We may have not been able to put away the big cheese but at least this place and Miss White and her goons will be shut down permanently," Dragoness said.

"You better get out of there. The cops will be there soon. Word is that the others went into a trap. Seems I was setup, but the others won and have four waiting for the authorities as well," Cyber-Worm said.

Dragoness helped Jayson gather up what was left of the Predator suit and bolted out of the building. Cyber-Worm was glad they were able to shut down the Agency proving they were hiring the villains, but he knew that with the files he got that this was only the tip of the iceberg. He had to get to work and fast.

_**Art of the Crow**_

Surrender Monkey stepped over the unconscious Mr. Giles. He had timed it just right to knock the man out and gain entrance into the shop. At the last minute, Miss White had sent him another job so he left the others and came here. He had been instructed to place a device here in the basement of the shop as well as other key places throughout the city.

He made his way into the basement. It had been a long night but this was the last stop and the last device. He placed it on the ground and turned it on. He wasn't sure what these were for but he had the feeling that it was time to leave Bergsville for good.

**Next: Issue #12 – Epilogue **

**NOTE: The Storm is Coming. See my profile for more details.**


	13. Epilogue

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #12 – Epilogue**

_**Madison Jeffries the Cyber-Worm**_

"We should take a trip to see my parents. Mom's been dieing to see the baby again," Mindy said as she rocked little Jessi Marie.

"Maybe, how about next weekend?" Madison said as he made weird faces at his daughter.

"Why not today?" Mindy asked eyeing her husband.

"I have a meeting to attend," Madison said kissing her forehead and moving towards the stairs.

"I know I agreed to you still being on the team from home, but I thought being here at home would mean more time with us and not locked away upstairs," Mindy grumbled.

"I'm sorry honey but I had to decipher all those files I had managed to acquire. I jut have a few more to crack and I think I'll be able to put everything together," Madison said as he headed up the stairs.

"When this is done you owe me a vacation," Mindy called after her husband.

Madison sat at his computer and began to log in and type away. It had taken him a lot of hours to access a lot of the files he had managed to steel from Force Job Agency's computer system. He had easy found the villain's names tied to paid invoices and requests from the Agency itself. The rest of the files he was working on cracking. He wanted to find a way back in to the place but after the authorities had hauled Cutter and Ms White away the place suddenly exploded. There was nothing left to find or uncover.

If it wasn't for what he had, they would have gotten off easily. Ms White, Cutter, and the Jones sister were being transported to the Vault. Deathlok, unlike the others had been surrendered to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. As for the others, Paibok, Hunter and Surrender Monkey they were still at large with warrants issued. Being a paid job, he was pretty sure they wouldn't be back since their employer had been taken down. Now he just wished he could take down the Agency's boss.

"Wait a minute. There I got it," Madison cheered as he finally broke open all the other files.

Madison about leapt out of his chair. He couldn't believe what he was reading. Quickly he moved his fingers and started looking at all the data and placing it together. This was bad. They had a feeling something big was going on here and that there was more to this than they thought. He just didn't realize how big this actually was. Madison quickly typed a few words and sent a priority alert to the hole team. They had to move and move fast.

_**Felicia Hardy the Black Cat**_

Felicia sat in her dressing room waiting for her makeup and hairdresser to arrive for last minute touchups. She wasn't in the best of moods, but that was only because she had just gotten out of a meeting with her boss. Even though the network realized she had been kidnapped and it was her evil sister posing as her, they still were under debate whether to still fire her or not. Overall they seemed to not care for her attitude and if it weren't for her outstanding ratings, she would have been jobless.

Felicia bit her tongue but she thought her attitude was just fine. She couldn't help it that all the girls here were jealous of her and her success. If it weren't for her needing the job to pay her bills she would quit and show them. Without her there would be no successful show. Maybe she should speak her mind and remind them exactly of what she has done for this station. That did it and Felicia was on her feet.

As she went out the door she bumped into her hairdresser. "Where're you going?"

"Sorry, Steve, I'm heading up to give the big wigs a piece of my mind," Felicia said.

"You don't have time. You're on in thirty minutes," Steve said.

"Don't worry, this wont take long," Felicia said as she hurried past as Steve swore after her.

Felicia made it onto the elevator and was half way up to her destination when her watch started beeping. She looked down and saw that Cyber-Worm was signaling an emergency meeting. What was he doing call a meeting during the day? They mainly operated at night. If she left she would miss her show and would defiantly lose her job. She was torn between her two jobs.

"Cybie, I can't come right now," Felicia said into her watch.

"Cat, you have to come. What I have to show you guys will cause you to flip," Cyber-Worm's voice said from the watch.

"I'll see what I can do," Felicia said swearing.

The elevator doors opened and several people stepped into an empty elevator. They all looked up to see the escape door in the ceiling swinging wide open.

_**Jesse Crow the Black Crow & Tamara Kurtz the Dragoness**_

Tamara was on her way to the Arts of the Crow for her morning shift. For the first time in her life she was feeling very good about herself and her life. She had a job and a place to live with great new friends. She also was making a difference. For the longest time she had always been pegged as a villain but now she was a hero in a group called the Wild Pack. Things were definitely going her way.

Even after finding confronting her family and finding out that her old employer the Force Job Agency was evil she managed to still come out on top. Her family was defeated and the agency was taken down. Both she had been taken head on and prevailed with the help of her friends and teammates. Just like with the battle against her family she had learned the identity of a teammate and made a friend when battling at the Agency.

During the battle with Cutter and Ms White it had been revealed that the New Predator was actually an eighteen year old kid. Being in her upper twenties they weren't all that far apart in age. She had promised both Cyber-Worm and Jayson that she would keep his identity secret. Cyber-Worm was afraid the others might reject him if they new his real age. Normally Dragoness wouldn't be part of a lie like this, but she could relate and Jayson had proven himself to her in battle and earned her confidence.

As she approached the entrance to the Arts of the Crow she thought about one other blessing in her life, Jesse Crow. The man had given her a chance by hiring her and she had found herself falling madly in love with him. The only problem, he didn't know and she was afraid to tell him. She had almost lost him to Felicia or her evil sister in all actuality but that crisis had ended with her jailing. She knew she had to make her move soon before she did lose him.

She was all geared up when she opened the door and saw Jesse hovering near John Giles, his butler and friend. As Tamara entered the shop she saw a bloody rag on the floor and John was holding an icepack on his head. Something had happened once again here at the shop. It drove her nuts trying to figure out what was so important about this place that it keeps getting attacked.

"John, are you okay? Jesse, what happened?" Tamara said running up to the two men.

"Somebody broke in here and knocked John over the head," Jesse said.

"Who was it?" Tamara asked.

"I don't know. I didn't see him," John said.

"Was anything taken?" Tamara asked.

"No, not that I could tell, but I'll have to check and compare inventory later," Jesse said moving back and facing Tamara.

"Well, I can stay late today and help you," Tamara said trying to hide her excitement.

"I would like that, thank you," Jesse said as he looked back at John.

"I'm fine really. No need to fuss over me," John said.

Tamara was about to go hang up her purse when a loud beeping went off. Both Tamara and Jesse looked down at their watches and then froze. They both then slowly looked up and into each others eyes. It was not coincidence and they both knew that distinct sound. While strangers would dismiss as a watch alarm any member of the Wild Pack would know it as an emergency call from Cyber-Worm. There was dead silence for what seemed like hours before John spoke.

"Well, it's about time," John said getting up and walking out of the room.

"I don't know what to say," Tamara said nervously.

"It seems were both needed. Do we trust each other and go or do you wish to keep who in the team you are secret?" Jesse said already sure of her identity.

"You think it will change things?" Tamara asked.

"It already has, but I think only for the better," John smiled and then concentrated, calling forth his powers.

A mystic bolt from nowhere struck the man in the wheelchair. Tamara jumped back as a thick fog began to evaporate revealing the muscular form of the Black Crow. Tamara gasped as she realized how obvious it was now that Jesse the owner of the Arts of the Crow was the Black Crow. The other shocker was that the man she loved more than anything turned out to be the man she hated the most. What a development that had just occurred.

"Black Crow?" Tamara said still in shock.

"Yes, in the flesh. I trust you with my identity, but if you wish to keep yours secret I will respect that," Black Crow said.

"No, it's only fair and kind of pointless to try and hide it since we both seem to work with each other in both jobs," Tamara laughed nervously.

Tamara called forth her powers as bio-electricity went up and down her body. Her clothes soon vanished revealing her costume underneath as is converted in conjunction with her powers. She reached behind and pulled out an object that soon shifted with her powers touch. In moments it took shape to form a mask that she placed over her face. Dragoness now stood and smiled before the mighty Black Crow.

"Dragoness, that was my first guess," Black Crow smiled.

"What now?" Dragoness asked nervously.

"We go and see what the emergency is," Black Crow said as he vanished in a bolt of lightening.

"Just wonderful," Dragoness mumbled as bio-electric wings formed and she took flight.

_**Walter Langkowski the Sasquatch**_

"Sounds like a lot going on, Eugene. I'm just glad you're okay. Sounds like Mac is on a self-destructive path," Walter said on the phone.

"Walter, even though I may not approve of what James is doing I think he might be right that something is not right here at Department H," Eugene, the Alphan known as Puck said form the other end of the phone.

"Well, you just watch yourself and give my best to Heather and the others," Walter said.

"I will, but I better go. Never know who might be listening," Puck said as he and Walter hung up after their good-byes.

Walter missed his friends and hated abandoning James like he did but he had had enough. Even now, it seemed that death and destruction always followed Alpha Flight anymore. It felt good to be in a different calmer place. He really liked the fact of being a teacher than a hard core super hero. Yes, it turned out his old comrade Madison Jeffries lived here and convinced him to be a part of the Wild Pack, but it was on a low key status.

Walter sat up and got ready to head to the campus when his watch went off. It was Madison signaling an emergency meeting. What could be so important at this time of day, especially in this city? Most things seemed to happen at night, not during the day. Madison hit a button on his watch activating the com system.

"What's up?" Walter asked.

"I need everyone to gather fast. I've uncovered some major stuff and we have to act fast," Madison said.

"Madison, I told you I didn't want a huge active role in your team. I moved her to get away from this sort of thing," Walter said.

"I know, but we are going to need you. Trust me this is big," Madison begged his old friend.

"Fine, I'm on my way," Walter said as he called forth his powers and became a huge orange beast and leapt through the streets.

_**Cleo Nefertiti the Asp**_

Cleo sat in her apartment surfing through the channels on the television. She was truly bored and was missing her friends and Bad Girls Inc. She had come here to start over after a huge fight with the girls and quite the team. She was starting to wonder if she had made a mistake. She really liked the Wild Pack and the city here but they just weren't the same. Maybe she should quit and head back?

She wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't stand the other girls in Wild Pack, especially Black Cat. Her attitude drove her insane and Dragoness acted like she was superior over all. The men on the team seemed nice but she really hadn't worked with men since her time in the Serpent Society and even then she didn't care for it. Before she could think any further on things her watch went off.

Cleo looked down and saw an emergency meeting being called. Maybe she should throw the watch away and make her exit now. She paused for a minute and then made a compromise. She would attend this meeting and go on one last mission and then she would resign properly and head back to her friends at Bad Girls Inc. With that thought, Cleo threw her costume and dashed out the door as the Asp.

_**Jayson Landon the Predator**_

Jayson sat on his bed. Here he was, eighteen living at home and grounded. He thought about telling his parents that the reason he was out late was because he was a super hero, but he feared their response. They would either be freaked out and disown him or think he was lying and ground him even more. It didn't matter, soon he would be going to college and would move out and not have to follow their rules anymore. Until then he would have to obey their rules, which would be tough being a member of Wild Pack.

He still couldn't believe that Mr. Jeffries was actually the Predator the leader of the Wild Pack. Not only that, but had also agreed to let him be the new Predator and train him. He still wasn't the best but he was getting the hang of it. His ghosting powers seemed to keep him safe, even though he did have a close call with Cutter. What mattered is that he did manage to save the day with Dragoness. The fact she was willing to keep his identity secret and not judge him for being young made her that more attractive.

Jayson began to daydream when his watch went off. He looked down and saw that Mr. Jeffries was calling an emergency meeting. He knew the location and ran over to his bed were he kept his costume hidden underneath under the floor boards. He pulled it out; thankful Mr. Jeffries had forgiven him and made him a new suit of armor. He looked at it and wondered if he should really break grounding. It took all of two seconds for Jayson to vanish and the Predator costume to come to life and jet our of the bedroom window.

_**Secret Abandoned Warehouse**_

A devise in the middle of the room projected a holographic image of Cyber-Worm. The team still had to get used to the image of a robotic looking worm without laughing. Cyber-Worm nodded as he saw everyone present. Before him stood Black Cat, Sasquatch, Asp, Black Crow, Dragoness and Predator, otherwise known as the Wild Pack. Cyber-Worm took a deep breath and then began the meeting.

"What's the emergency?" Black Cat asked.

"I was able to break the files that I managed to extract for Force Job Agency, and it's not pretty," Cyber-Worm said.

"What did you find out," Dragoness asked.

"It seems that the person running the Agency goes by the name Jim Styles and he ordered all the contracts for those villains. I also found several other invoices and contracts with many other villains tied to it," Madison said.

"Well we already know that it was a farce for hiring out bad guys, tell us something we don't know," Asp said getting irritated by this meeting as much as Sasquatch was.

"Well, what I found was Jim Styles gets his paycheck and orders from a Mr. Burns, who actually holds stock and owns the Agency secretly. So I looked further into this and found files with out Mayors name on them along with several other names," Cyber-Worm said reading off a list of names of people who were in charge of different companies throughout the city.

"Oh no," Black Cat said as she recognized the name of the president of Power Communications that owned the network she worked at.

"That's right and it gets worse. All these people and companies actually are paid off, or owned by Mr. Burns," Madison said.

"What are you saying?" Black Crow asked.

"That in the literal sense, this Mr. Burns runs and controls the whole city of Bergsville. I know there are more shady dealings but was unable to get those files. What I did found in further searching the net was even more disturbing," Madison said.

"What? I don't know how much more I can take," Black Cat sighed.

"It appears that all the properties and deeds of this entire city are owned by Lust Industries except the land Arts of the Crow sits on," Madison said.

"No wonder they've been hitting that store so much," Black Crow said growing angry.

"To top it off, the President of Lust Industries is Mr. Burns," Madison said.

"What you're saying is this Mr. Burns literally owns and controls this whole city and no one knows it," Predator said.

"I can't believe this," Dragoness said thinking what everyone else was thinking. Their new home was a city run by evil.

"It gets worse. It seems that Lust Industries is actually a subsidiary company of a company called Power Inc that is based in New York that is owned by a man called Lust Powers.," Cyber-Worm said.

"This is not good, but what is the immediate emergency that you called us for," Walter asked.

"I can't find records of this Lust Powers anywhere. I did find that he had sent a communications to Mr. Burn who sent a memo to all company owners in Bergsville that the time is coming and to be prepared. That is all I could get but I think we need to take a trip to New York and investigate this Power Inc," Madison said.

"I don't know about that," Predator said thinking about his parents and his leaving the state.

"I think…do you feel that?" Asp said as the ground began to shake.

"Yes, feels like an earthquake," Sasquatch said.

"Reports are coming in from all over Bergsville. It's a city wide tremor," Cyber-Worm said starting to get worried.

"Wait, I'm feeling a great mystic force rising," Black Crow said looking out into the sky.

"We have a major situation here, Wild Pack. I am picking up strong signals coming from what appears to be thousands of devises planted all over the city including the Arts of the Crow," Cyber-Worm shouted as the tremors began to get worse as the whole city began to shake.

"We have to move fast. What are they and how do we stop them," Black Crow said thinking of John back at the shop.

"Oh no, they're…" Cyber-Worm began as the communicator and his image deactivated.

"Going to explode," Black Crow screamed as he felt the mystic force as the warehouse began to shake and come apart around them.

"Madison, what's happening?" Mindy shouted over the babies loud screams.

"Mindy, we have to go now," Madison shouted as he approached his wife calling on his powers with a force and in a way he had never done before.

His wife's response was lost as it was drowned out by a massive roar. In the next instant the Jeffries household as well as the rest of the city exploded as a huge beam of fire shot up towards the heavens. The city of Bergsville and its residents were no more as the beam of fire turned the skies red.

**Next: Read Demon Storm #1 – Demon Storm – Part One**

**Then be back here for Issue #13 – Demon Storm – Part Five**


	14. Demon Storm Part Five

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #13 – Demon Storm – Part Five**

_**Beam of Fire – What used to be Bergsville, PA**_

Madison sat their rocking his wife as she held their baby girl. He glanced and saw pieces of metal and scrap that he had used lying all around them in the grass, smoking and still red with heat. He was exhausted and still couldn't believe he had pulled it off. He was sure he and his family were dead. By great chance and will, they weren't, they had survived.

When the tremors started he knew something bad was coming. As he reached his wife, he called forth his powers and pushed them to their limits and beyond. He pulled everything within his house together and formed a giant sphere around them and projected them up and out. As the beam of fire shot up, his powers combined with the force of the upward explosion propelled the sphere up and then over and out of the city. They had made it out before the fire had eaten away the last layer.

He felt the thunk onto the ground and knew what was left of the sphere was becoming an oven. With the last bit of his strength he pushed and the sphere ripped apart and flew away from them. He sat there next to his wife, thanking God they were alive. Then he gasped with horror as he saw, straight in front of him, where Bergsville used to be was a giant beam of fire.

He glanced and saw people who had stopped from getting into the city and others who had made it out in time. He knew that as many who had survived, thousands had died. He didn't even know if his team, the Wild Pack had made it out. Right now, he had no way of contacting them or finding out where they were. For now, he would sit here and hold his family in his arms and be thankful.

"I don't understand, what happened?" Mindy said trying to calm a screaming Jessi.

"I don't know, Mindy," Madison said as he looked up ad saw the sky was turning red.

"What do we do now?" Mindy asked.

"We're going to get you to your parents. You should be safe there," Madison said.

"What about you?" Mindy asked as he eyes widened with fear.

"I need to find out what caused this. I need to get to New York and make those who did this pay," Madison said.

"No, I want you to stay with us," Mindy said.

"I want to, but I can't. If I ignore this, a lot more people could be in danger or even die. I have to do this to secure the safety of you and little Jessi Marie. Can't you see that?" Madison pleaded with his wife.

"Yes, but I don't have to like it," Mindy said.

"Mr. Jeffries?" A voice asked with tears and sobs behind it.

"Jayson?" Madison asked as he saw their neighbor boy slowly walking towards them.

"Jayson, how did you get out? Where are your parents?" Mindy asked.

"I think they're dead," Jayson cried.

"Were you not with them?" Mindy asked taking the boy in her arms.

"What happened, Jayson? Did any of the others make it?" Madison asked.

"I don't know. Black Crow screamed for us to get out as the warehouse began to come down on all of us. I lost track of everyone and then the fire came. As my suit started to burn away I phased. I was scared because I knew if I went solid I would die.

"So I pushed myself and tried to find the next thing to enter. Eventually I made it out the beam of fire and into a car. It took me awhile but I was able to phase out but lay on the ground unable to move for a long time. I then heard Jessi's cry and slowly made it to my feet and to you guys," Jayson said.

"Phased, what do you mean?" Mindy asked.

"He has powers, Mindy. Jayson, I'm so sorry about your parents," Madison said.

"What do I do now?" Jayson asked.

"Don't worry, honey. We'll figure it out," Mindy said holding both kids as Madison suddenly ran off towards a car on the road near them.

After a few minutes Madison returned. "I just paid off that cab. He'll take you straight to your parent's house and will not stop for no one till you get there."

"I wish you would come with us," Mindy said.

"I can't, but you'll be okay. Jayson, you can go with her," Madison said.

"No, I'm coming with you. I want to find out who ever did this and make them pay for killing my parents," Jayson said.

Madison nodded as he kissed his wife and daughter and reluctantly sent them off in the cab. He then looked around at all the abandoned cars and material and in moments Madison called upon his powers and was incased in a giant red and silver suit of armor. When he was done, he made another Predator suit for Jayson.

"So I suppose you're Predator again?" Jayson asked.

"No, in this armor you can call me Box. You have earned the name Predator," Madison said as Jayson phased and took over the suit of armor.

"Okay, Box. What now?" Predator asked.

"We look for signs of the others, and then we go to New York," Box said as he started to scan the area.

As Madison started to look around he heard a loud crackling noise erupt from the beam of fire. He turned to see a giant sphere made of bioelectricity shoot out and hit the ground. The electricity vanished as its maker collapsed to the ground and a giant orange beast dips down and picks her up in his arms. A woman in white and green leaned against the beast sighing with relief.

"Dragoness, is she okay?" Madison asks as he runs towards Asp and Sasquatch, who is holding a barely conscious Dragoness.

"She'll live. I see you're sporting your old look again," Sasquatch said.

"Glad to see you too, old friend," Madison says to the great orange beast.

"What happened?" Asp asked looking back at the beam of fire.

"We don't know, we're assuming it has to do with Power Inc," Madison said.

"A whole city perished in that fire. How did you guys survive?" Jayson asked.

"As the warehouse began to fall apart I lost track of everyone. I then sensed the fire coming and shouted a warning. Before I could get my bearings the fire shot up. I thought I was a goner until I saw a bioelectrical shield deflect the fire from me," Sasquatch said.

"Dragoness had managed to throw up a shield but had only enough time to pull it around me, Sasquatch and herself. She cried the whole time that she was not able to save the others," Asp said.

"She was very brave. She did all she could to generate the electricity faster than the fire could burn through. I was afraid how long she would last," Sasquatch said.

"As was I, so I focused on one point and send out my blasts hoping it would be enough to help propel us sideways and clear of the fire. Of course, we knew it was false hope but glad it worked," Asp said.

"Any sign of the others?" Sasquatch asks.

"Not yet, but we can only hope," Predator said.

"What about?" Sasquatch begins to ask.

"Yes, I was able to save Mindy and my little girl. Unfortunately, Predator lost his parents," Box said.

"Sorry to hear that," Sasquatch nods to Predator.

"It's okay. Did you guys lose anyone?" Predator says holding back his tears.

"No, just my students," Sasquatch says.

"I had no here," Asp whispers.

"Neither did I," Dragoness says as she places her head in her hand.

"Welcome back," Box says.

"Who are you?" Dragoness asked as Sasquatch puts her down and helps steady her on her feet.

"It's me, Cyber-Worm, but you can call me," Madison starts to say.

"Box, should have guessed from how chummy you and Sasquatch were right off the bat. I had read a dossier on Alpha Flight once," Dragoness finished.

"I see," Box said knowing from her profile he had found that she would have done a lot of reading on mutant based teams as part of the Mutant Liberation Front. It was something he had chosen never to bring up since he knew she was trying hard at a new start.

"I feel so bad. I tried so hard but I couldn't get to the others in time," Dragoness said as her eyes began to water.

"You did your best," Sasquatch said squeezing her shoulder.

Box turned to the sky as his suit began to pick up a strange reading. He could feel it before it approached. A few minutes later, a large lightening bolt struck the ground near them. When the smoke and dust cleared they saw the form of the Black Crow standing there holding the Black Cat. He set her down as they all ran towards them.

"Crow, you're okay," Dragoness smiled.

"Yes, a little drained but I'll be just fine," Black Crow said.

"I can't believe I'm alive," Black Cat said.

"How?" Box asked as he quickly informed them of who he was.

"I felt the fire coming as I fell through the floor. I glanced and there was no one around me and I knew I had to become a bolt and flew to survive. Just as I was making the transformation I saw Black Cat fall and land right by me. I had never done it before and knew I had to risk it.

"I used my powers and latched on to her spirit and drew her into my power. I then forced myself to create the lightening bolt merging the two of us. It worked and we shot right up and out of harms way, but the strain was so great I couldn't come back or separate the two of us.

"I was afraid of losing the two f us when I sensed all of your spirits alive and together. The strength in that acted as a beacon for me to focus on and was soon able to pull us back towards you and separate the two of us from the bolt," Black Crow said.

"It was weird. Last thing I remember was falling and then nothing until now," Black Cat said.

"We are lucky. It was something I've never tried and will never attempt again," Black Crow said.

"I'm just grateful you saved my life, and to see that all of the Pack made it," Black Cat said as Dragoness winced with sudden jealousy.

"Not everyone," Crow said stiffening a little.

"Yes, a lot of people didn't make it out of the city," Sasquatch said.

"That's not what you meant was it?" Dragoness asked as she reached out for his arm.

"I'm afraid Giles didn't make it. I felt his spirit briefly and then it faded," Black Crow said.

"I'm so sorry," Dragoness said as she truly felt the loss of her fellow friend and coworker.

"Giles?" Predator asked.

"A dear friend of mine," Black Crow said as everyone acknowledged his loss.

"So, what now?" Asp asked.

"I'm heading to New York to demand some answers from a mister Lust Powers," Box said.

"Count us in," everyone chimed in.

Box used his powers and soon created a craft that everyone could ride on to New York. As they flew across the red sky they could see the rain of fire was happening everywhere. They didn't know what was causing it but it couldn't be good. As they got closer to New York they saw another beam of fire clear off in the distance. They all looked at each other as the feeling that this was much bigger than they had thought dug into their guts.

They made it to Power Inc and landed on the roof. The Wild Pack stared as they heard the chaos all around them as people screamed. What could only be Manhattan was sporting a beam of fire also as they saw off in another direction a second beam of fire. According to his reading, it was somewhere near what he knew to be the home of the X-Men.

"I've got a very bad feeling about this," Black Cat said staring with wide eyes.

"Should we go help?" Black Crow asked.

"No, we need to go into this building and make whoever did this pay," Predator said with grief.

"I think I just saw a few heroes I knew running around down there," Black Cat said glancing off the roof top.

"They're right. There are plenty of heroes out there to help. What ever caused this might be in this building ands we could be the only ones that know this and can stop it," Box said.

"Yes and no. I may have orchestrated the control and sacrifice of a whole city, but I did not cause all this. This is the work of Semaj and there is no way you can stop it or his Demon Storm," a man said stepping out a doorway and onto the rooftop.

"Lust Powers, I presume?" Box spat matching the face with the image he had saw from online.

"Oh, not any more," the blond man in a black three piece suit.

As Lust Power walked closer he became to scream and change shape. Once he reached about five feet from the Wild Pack he stopped and stared at them. The man was gone and in his pale was now a six foot tall and very muscular demon. He had giant horns and his skin glowed red with fire. Fire danced from his fingernails. The demon that had once been Lust Powers roared with great power and then smiled at the group of heroes.

"I am Lustorax, one of the Horsemen of Hell. And when I'm done devouring you all, I will head to the great iron lady to welcome the coming of Semaj," the demon snarled.

"You think you can stop all of us?" Black Cat asked forcing a laugh.

"Oh yes, let me introduce you to my staff," Lustorax laughed as eight figures erupted from the floor of the roof and landing beside their great master. Each demon glowed a different color of fire.

"This can't be good," Asp said as the demons launched themselves at the Wild Pack.

**Next: Issue #14 – Demon Storm – Part Thirteen – Final battle with Lustorax and the Final Issue **

**Check out the following issues as the other Horsemen of Hell make their move:**

**Salem-X #17 & 18 – Demon Storm Part Ten**

**New Exiles #16 & 17 – Demon Storm Part Three & Eleven**

**Power Pack #13 & 14 – Demon Storm Part Four & Twelve**

**Wild Pack #13 & 14 – Demon Storm Part Five & Thirteen (Final Issue)**

**Alpha Squads #13 & 14 – Demon Storm Part Six & Fourteen (Final Issue)**

**Mutant Generation Force #14 & 15 – Demon Storm Part Seven & Fifteen**

**X-Calibur # 13 & 14 – Demon Storm Part Eight & Sixteen**

**Sensational X-Men # 13 & 14 – Demon Storm Part Nine & Seventeen**

**Then Read: Demon Storm #2 – Demon Storm – Part Eighteen – The Conclusion **


	15. Demon Storm Part Thirteen

**The Wild Pack**

**Issue #14 – Demon Storm – Part Thirteen**

_**Power Inc. – New York**_

Sasquatch faced a demon that seemed to be burning with brown fire. They locked hands and he found that the demon was very strong. Just when Walter thought he might gain the upper hand, the earth rose up and grabbed him. The demon smiled as the hand made of earth threw him off the roof top. The demon then moved to the edge to check on is victim.

Black Cat dove at the female demon that was burning with white fire. After seeing Sasquatch lock hands with the brown demon, she had a feeling that they were not really on fire but was a visual effect. Black Cat flipped and launched a round kick at the demon lady. The white demon moved with great speed as Black Cat struck empty air. Black Cat turned to strike again when the demon smiled and a gust of wind blew her off the side of the building.

The demon glowing with red fire headed straight for Box. Madison could almost make out the creatures facial features and it almost looked like the face of Mr. Burn. Box wondered if all Lust's employees were demons. Box brought his attention back when the demon stopped a few feet from him and raised his hands. Before Box could register what he was up to he found himself engulfed in a blaze of fire.

A female demon burning with blue fire ran at Asp. Asp began her dance to generate her paralyzing bolts. She knew she would have to strike hard and fast. Just as she was about to release her bolt she found herself being doused in water. Any direction she turned she found water pounding in her face making it hard to breath. She knew it wouldn't be long before she would drown.

Dragoness watched as a small demon burning with orange fire ran towards her. She wanted to laugh at how pathetic the tiny demon looked, but the anger to make them pay for what they had done to her new home fueled her more. Dragoness was ready to fire off a series of stinger blasts when the demon began to change shape. In a mater of seconds the tiny demon was replaced with a giant dragon. Dragoness moved to react but wasn't fast enough. The dragon sent her sailing with the impact of his tail.

Predator looked at the female demon that approached him. She moved with a slow pace and very eloquent for a monster. Her burning pink flame was almost soothing. The closer she got the more he felt compelled to love her and not hate her. As she approached he melted into her arms as she put her hands upon is head. He felt compelled to kiss her when she smiled and then swiftly snapped his neck and dropped him to the ground. She gloated as she looked down upon the unmoving body before her.

Black Crow called forth his spear as a male demon glowing with green fire and a female demon glowing with yellow fire ran at him. Crow threw his spear at the yellow burning demon but it seemed to go right through her as the creature phased its form. Black Crow began to summon his feather knives when a strong force grabbed his very soul. As he tried to summon his powers he felt a sharp pain within his brain. It was like he was being torn apart by two forces, one by his mind the other by his soul. He screamed in agony as the two demons advanced upon him.

"Make sure you all leave some for me. I want to devour some live fresh meat," Lustorax called out as he watched his minions take down the Wild Pack.

The demon once known as Mr. Brick walked over to the ledge to peer down. He had every hope of seeing the orange hairy beast splattered all over the pavement. So it was to his surprise, as he leaned over, a large orange hand grabbed his face and yanked him over the edge. Sasquatch hung on to the window ledge with one arms as he watch the burning brown demon hit the ground below.

Sasquatch was stunned to see that the demon had landed upon parking meter that in turn impaled his chest. Upon impact, the demon burst into flame and then vanished leaving behind a giant pile of dust. Sasquatch quickly sent out a message with his Com Unit to let the other members of Wild Pack know that these creatures were pure dust and lethal force was not to be a problem. Sasquatch then used his strength and other arm to hoist himself back up over the edge and back upon the roof top. He had more demons to take down.

Black Cat shot out her grappling hook the minute she went over the edge. The minute hit connected to the building she used her momentum to swing and propel herself up and back over the edge. When she landed on the roof top she could seethe surprise on the demon's face. The flaming white demon raised its arms to call upon the wind. Felicia knew she had to act fast or wind up wind blown.

Black Cat dove down and moved for the demon's legs. The demon laughed as it stepped out of the way only allowing Black Cat to barely scratch its leg. The demon laughed out load and called forth the winds, but Felicia laughed too. A scratch was all she needed as she called forth her powers of bad luck. The demon pulled the power of the winds towards her and was taken by surprise as a metal post snapped off and was carried at her by her own winds. The demon had no time to move as the post impaled her and turned her to dust.

Box could feel the heat within his suit of armor, but for now was safe from the flames. As he let the demon gloat, he analyzed the situation from inside the fire. He saw an escape route directly below him and as the flames drew closer he blasted out the floor and went down. He quickly flew over a few feet and blasted back up through the ceiling right behind the demon. The demon turned around in surprise as Box let loose his wrist blasters.

The demon roared as he tried to use its powers to deflect the blasts but was too late. The blast pelted the demon sending him backwards. Caught off balance, Box kicked and swiped the demon off its feet. As the demon went down, Box placed his hand on the demon's face and fired off everything he had. Box sighed with relief when the demon vanished and was replaced with a pile of dust. Box then turned and faced the Horseman of Hell.

Dragoness called forth her powers creating her bioelectric dragon wings. After a few seconds she got her bearings and flew back towards the building roof top where the giant dragon stood waiting for her. As she neared she saw Asp drowning in water. She signaled Asp telling her to be ready. On her mark, Dragoness hit the flaming blue demon with all her might as Asp dropped and rolled out of the way.

The water vanished as the demon fried from the electricity and became a giant pile of dust. Asp, glad for the save, returned the favor to Dragoness. She raised her hands above her head and released a powerful blast hitting the dragon. The dragon shifted back to the orange burning demon and dropped to the ground. The blast, which would have killed a normal person, seemed to stun the demon. Dragoness came up quickly and cut loose her bioelectricity turning the demon to dust.

The female demon glowing with pink fire kicked the body of Predator. He had gone down quicker than she had thought. She knelt down to get a closer look at the body when Predators hand shot up and grabbed her by the neck. He released a blade from his hand that went right through the demon's throat. The demon gasped as it cuffed its throat in pain.

"Can't kill what is only possessing a suit of armor and not tangible," Predator laughed as the demon became a pile of dust.

Black Crow was trapped by both mind and soul. He felt helpless and was unsure how he would get out of this situation. Just as he felt all was lost, he felt a mystical pop as he suddenly felt free. He looked up and saw both demons laying flat on their backs. Wondering who had helped him he turned and looked around. He gasped in shock at the figure standing next to him.

"Giles?" Black Crow asked at the ghostly figure that resembled his dear friend.

"In the flesh, or non-flesh to be accurate," Giles said with a smile.

"How is this possible? I felt your spirit die?" Black Crow asked.

"I'm not sure. I was casting a spell when the city went up in flames. One minute I was following a white tunnel and the next I was here," Giles said.

"I'm not complaining, good to have you by my side," Black Crow said.

"Shall we finish these demons?" Giles asked as Black Crow nodded.

Giles called forth his magic and sent a blast at the demon burning with yellow fire. The blast hit the demon causing it to explode in a burst of fire leaving a pile of dust in its wake. As Giles had finished off his demon Black Crow did the same with his. Calling forth his spear he leapt up and brought it down upon the demon in green fire. Upon impact, the demon burst into flame and became a pile of dust too. Black Crow pulled back his spear and smiled over at his friend as the spear vanished from sight.

"We've taken down your minions, now prepare to meet the fury of the Wild Pack," Box said as his team formed behind him.

"You think you can stop me?" Lustorax asked as he moved towards the Wild Pack.

"Not only will we stop you, we'll make you pay for what you did," Predator said with anger.

"You will prove a tasty morsel," Lustorax said as he reached out and tore the arm off Predator's suit and ate it.

"Jayson," Box said looking at Predator.

"I'm fine. Just a flash of pain but I'm okay," Predator said.

Sasquatch leapt at the demon with all his might and fury. Lustorax reached out and grabbed Sasquatch by both his arms. The Horseman of Hell used the momentum to swing the orange beast up, over his head and slam him down and through the floor. He turned back in time to see Black Cat coming at him. With a swift swipe, he sent the Black Cat flying backwards.

"Got you," Dragoness said as she flew up in the air and caught her roommate before she flew over the edge of the roof.

"Thanks," Felicia said as she felt like she had been hit by a Mac truck.

As her teammates tried and failed, Asp used the time to dance and build up her energy. With a quick motion, she placed her hands together over her head and released one of her blasts. As the blast went towards Lustorax, the demon waved his hand creating a fiery shield that reflected and sent the blast back at Asp. Asp screamed as she hit the ground and lay motionless.

"Asp?" Box called out.

"She's still alive, just paralyzed by her own powers," Black Crow said.

"We need to take him out and fast," Predator said as Box recreated an arm for him.

"I agree," Box began to say when a strange vibration could be felt through the air.

"IT IS TIME!" A voice boomed from the pits of hell.

"What is that?" Sasquatch said climbing out of the whole he had been smashed through.

"As you wish, master," Lustorax said as he invoked a powerful spell.

"Pack, watch out. I sense something big happening," Black Crow said as he called forth his spear.

"I offer this soul to you, Semaj. All hail the Storm," Lustorax said as he completed the spell.

In a flash of fiery light, Asp was encased in a fiery cocoon and shot off into the sky.

"What just happened?" Black Cat asked as she saw her teammate vanish off into the distance.

"I sent her to the giant iron lady to be given up as a sacrifice to open the gates for Semaj to come through. I will join the homecoming once I've dealt with all of you," Lustorax said as smiled with fire and power.

"Wild Pack, together now," Box said as he rallied his team.

"Jesse, do not attack yet. It is my time to complete my unfinished business," Giles said as his spirit form took flight at the demon.

"Everyone, hold back," Back Crow called out.

"What, are you afraid?" Lustorax laughed.

"What are you doing?" Box asked.

"Trust me," Black Crow said as the others hesitated.

Giles flew at the demon and began chanting a spell. At the last second, Giles' form could be seen as he entered the Horseman and finalized his spell. Lustorax screamed out in pain as his body began to glow and he could no longer move his limbs. Feeling Giles' call, Black Crow focused his love and spirit into the spear and threw it. The spear hit the Horseman dead in the chest causing him to explode in a fiery light.

As the light faded, Lustorax was no more. A giant pile of ashes formed upon the ground. Black Crow looked up and saw his old friend smile and wave as he passed through a brilliant white light and was gone. Black Crow smiled as he wiped away his tears from his cheek.

"Was that really Giles?" Dragoness asked as she placed her hand on Black Crow's arm.

"Yes, he made one final sacrifice before crossing over to be one with his ancestors," Black Crow said as he patted Dragoness' shoulder.

"Sorry for your loss," Box said as he and the rest of the Pack gathered around the Crow.

"Do not be sorry, be proud," Black Crow said.

"What now? You think the iron lady is the Statue of Liberty?" Sasquatch asked Box.

"Yes, I just received confirmation from Mac. It seems whatever is behind this is making an appearance there. It seems many heroes are gathering there," Box said.

"Seems like we head there and save Asp and stop whatever is coming," Sasquatch said.

"With Bergsville gone, where does that leave the Wild Pack?" Predator asked.

"I'm really proud to have worked with all of you, but I think the Pack's time is done. It sounds what's next may not end well and I won't ask any of you to follow, but I'm heading to the Statue of Liberty to do what I can. After that, I think I will go find my wife and daughter and retire back to Canada," Box said.

"I'm with you, Jeffries. I'm glad I got to meet all of you, but leaving Canada might have been a mistake. After this I have some old friends to go back and check on," Sasquatch said placing his hand out.

"I've no one or no place to go after this, but I plan to make sure the big baddie pays," Predator said putting his armored hand on top of Sasquatch's hand.

"When this is over, you can come stay with me and Mindy," Box said as he placed his hand on top of the growing pile as Jayson smiled.

"I think New York will always be my home and here is where I'll stay. Don't worry, I won't let you boys try and do this on your own," Black Cat smiled as she put her hand on top of Box's and winked.

"I'm not sure where I'll go from here, but I'll stand by you till the end," Black Crow said placing his hand on Felicia's hand.

"You all will never know how much this team meant to me and I will miss you all when this is over. I don't know what will happen next, but what I do know is I've found the right path and I will continue to follow it," Dragoness said as she placed her hand on Black Crow's and smiled.

"Well, here's to our last hunt. Here's to Wild Pack!" Box shouted as they all cheered and threw their piled hands up into the air and took flight towards the Statue of Liberty.

**The End… for now!**

**Thank you all for reading and following the adventures of the Wild Pack and who knows what the future holds for our cast members…that is if they survive the Demon Storm!!!**

**Check out the following issues for the final battles with the other Horsemen of Hell:**

**Salem-X #18 – Demon Storm Part Ten**

**New Exiles #17 – Demon Storm Part Eleven**

**Power Pack #14 – Demon Storm Part Twelve**

**Wild Pack #14 – Demon Storm Part Thirteen (Final Issue)**

**Alpha Squads #14 – Demon Storm Part Fourteen (Final Issue)**

**Mutant Generation Force #15 – Demon Storm Part Fifteen**

**X-Calibur #14 – Demon Storm Part Sixteen**

**Sensational X-Men #14 – Demon Storm Part Seventeen**

**Then Read: Demon Storm #2 – Demon Storm – Part Eighteen – The Conclusion **


End file.
